Elegance on a shoestring: famous television chef Graham Kerr puts healthy gourmet meals within reach - includes recipes and a glossary - Cover Story

Vegetarian Times, Jan, 1996 by Graham Kerr

In 1959 in New Zealand, my wife, Treena, got 50 cents an hour working in the local milk bar making, among other things, sandwiches with fillings of beetroot and French-fried potato. The fillings were never mixed together and certainly were never elegant!

We then took her weekly wage of about $10 (in 1959 New Zealand dollars) and squandered it all on our Saturday night dinner parties.

We never had more than one couple to a sit-down meal because we had only four dining chairs. A large crowd was a sit-down meal because they had to bring their own pillows. No couch potatoes in our place. We had no telly to watch or couch for that matter!

No matter what the seating arrangement, dinner was elegant, in a country-style manner. We found some red-checked gingham that Treena cut and sewed as a tablecloth to fit our genuinely tortured pine table. I found an old Chianti bottle, its base wrapped in straw, and with several used candles I decorated its sides in cascades of color. We handwrote the menu in the French-style restaurant script I'd been taught as a child by a head waiter. We didn't have fine china or crystal glasses--it was just us and them, and, of course, the food.

The big trick was how to make $10 go a very long way and seem like a celebration. The answer was, and still is, all wrapped up in presentation and updraft (that's the aromatic hot air that rises off the plates that gets everyone's juices running)!

This all happened in New Zealand in the late 50's. Treena and I now have known each other for 51 years and have been married for 40 years. (You may now applaud if it doesn't look foolish!)

I'm mainly meatless and Treena's been an ovo-lacto (egg whites only) vegetarian for more than a year. When we looked back over our lifetime of elegant dining experiences it is genuinely hard to believe that our focus was on flesh rather than plants.

There's nothing so functionally elegant--and economical--as fruit, vegetables, legumes, grains, nuts and seeds. Each has its individual flavors, and all come in a huge variety of shapes, colors and textures. Another bonus is the simple, swift and straightforward cooking techniques plant foods require.

As I write, I'm in the midst of final research for a new PBS series to be aired in the fall of 1996, "Swiftly Seasoned by Graham Kerr." In this series, much of what I'll do is show how easy, swift and satisfying it is to prepare mostly meatless menus. I'll compare relative nutrition between a flesh-based meal and an elegant meatless menu using well over 100 plant foods during the course of the series.

I'm having a wonderful time enjoying the sense of innovation and the tastes. Here are some examples from my latest book and present doings. Why not invest some time and have a couple 'round for an elegant but economical dinner-you could even hand write the menu!

Green Risotto

This is my favorite course- Even if you double the serving size it still has less than 1 0 grams of fat and only 500 calories per serving.

Risotto: 1 tsp. light olive oil with a dash of

toasted sesame oil (see

glossary) 1/2 cup chopped onion 1/2 cup chopped fennel root 3/4 cup uncooked arborio rice (see

glossary) 3 cups homemade or canned

strained vegetable stock 1/2 cup dealcoholized white wine (see

glossary) 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

cheese

Pea mixture: 1 cup frozen green peas 1/4 cup strained vegetable stock 1 Tbs. chopped fresh basil 1 Tbs. chopped fresh parsley 7 large green butter lettuce leaves

(see glossary) cup dealcoholized white wine (see

glossary)

Garnish: Freshly grated Parmesan cheese Freshly ground black pepper Sliced fennel bulb Chopped fresh parsley

Risotto: In a large saucepan, heat oil; saute onion 3 minutes. Add fennel root and rice. Cook 2 minutes over medium heat, stirring until rice is well coated. Add 1 cup stock and wine; bring to vigorous boil, stirring until liquid is absorbed. Add I more cup stock; bring back to boil. Cook, stirring, until stock is absorbed; repeat with remaining 1 cup stock. (This process should take about 25 minutes. Stir in cheese; set aside.

Pea mixture: Pour peas into large saute pan over medium heat. Add stock, basil, parsley and lettuce; cover and cook 5 minutes. Turn mixture into food processor or blender. Add wine; puree until smooth. Pour puree into risotto; stir thoroughly.

To serve: Garnish each portion with a sprinkling of cheese, black pepper, fennel and parsley. Makes 4 servings.

PER SERVING: 293 CAL.; 9G PROT.; 3G FAT; 56G CARB.; 4MG CHOL.; 2 3 8MG SOD.; 3G FIBER. LACTO

Latin American Pasta Shells Marinara

This pasta-shell filling doesn't rely on the usual cheese. Instead, white beans and shiitake mushrooms add flavor instead of fat.

8 oz. jumbo pasta shells (1 6 shells)

Marinara sauce: 2 lbs. Roma tomatoes (see glossary) 1 tsp. light olive oil with a dash of

toasted sesame oil (see glossary) 1/3 cup diced onion 1/3 cup diced carrot 1/3 cup diced celery 2 cloves garlic, crushed, peeled and

chopped tsp. freshly ground sea salt or salt 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper 3 sprigs fresh oregano