The Vancouver Province (British Columbia)

November 7, 2004 Sunday

High-class food, low carbs: The Fish House's top chef shares her secrets

Renee Blackstone, Lifestyles Editor

Fish House Executive Chef Karen Barnaby's long-awaited low-carb cookbook is finally here.

Barnaby, who lost 70 pounds by crossing the carbs off her personal menus, has been a low-carber for more than five years. She wrote The Low-Carb Gourmet (HarperCollins, $39.95) to help other low-carbers stay on track with a wide variety of sophisticated and delicious dishes.

"We had 400 recipes, but we had to cut it down, so if this book does well, there will be a Low-Carb II," Barnaby says about future cookbook plans.

The current book features 250 recipes, including low-carb friendly waffles, pizza, lasagna and brownies. A bonus are the five low-carb party menus. No one will miss the potato chips!

Here are three recipes from the book.

Basic Cauli-fried "Rice"

This goes with almost anything saucy. My sous chef and good buddy Wayne just loves it with crumbled feta, olive oil, and chopped tomato on top. The variations are endless: a bit of curry powder, some grated lemon rind to go with fish, or some chili powder.

2 lbs. cauliflower, trimmed
4 tbsps. unsalted butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. sea salt
green onions, thinly sliced
Freshly ground black pepper

Grate the cauliflower, including core, using the medium holes of a grater. With your hands, squeeze out as much water as you can. (This may be necessary for some cauliflower as they vary in degree of wetness.)

Melt butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add garlic and saute until garlic sizzles. Add cauliflower, sprinkle with salt and stir-fry until tender-crisp, about 5-8 minutes.

Stir in green onions and season to taste with pepper. Check seasonings and serve. Serves 6.

Nutrition info: Effective carbohydrates, 4.3g; Carbohydrates, 7.8g; Calories, 100.

Donald's Deep-Dish Pizza Quiche

Donald is a lowcarber.org success story. He's lost more than 100 pounds. Donald cuts the quiche into pieces and freezes them to take to work for lunch. This is one of the most popular recipes ever from lowcarber.org.

4 oz. cream cheese
4 large eggs
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1 tbsp. fresh minced chives
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1 cup shredded Asiago cheese
2 cups shredded full-fat mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup tomato sauce
2 cups sliced mushrooms, sauteed
2 Italian sausages, casing removed, crumbled and cooked

Preheat oven to 350 degreesF. Butter a 13x19inch baking dish.

In food processor, blend together cream cheese and eggs until smooth. Add cream, parmesan, chives, garlic and oregano. Blend until smooth.

Scatter Asiago and 1 cup mozzarella in the prepared baking dish. Pour egg mixture over the cheese. Bake for 30 minutes.

Spread with tomato sauce. Scatter mushrooms and sauce over top. Cover with remaining 1 cup mozzarella. Turn on broiler and broil about 6 inches from heat until brown and bubbly. Let sit for 5 minutes before cutting into squares. Serves 8.

Nutrition info per serving: Effective carbohydrates, 3.5g; Carbohydrates, Calories, 305.

Cream Cheese, Coconut and Lemon Mounds

Use coconut milk instead of whipping cream for a more coconutty cookie. Keep refrigerated or frozen to prevent spoilage -- if they last that long.

1 cup unsweetened finely shredded coconut
11/2 tsps. each Splenda and Sugar Twin or 2 tbsps. Splenda
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup cream cheese (at room temperature)
1 large egg
1/2 tsp. finely grated lemon rind

In a medium bowl, mix coconut, sweetener, cream and vanilla. let sit for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350 degreesF. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Stir cream cheese into the coconut mixture until blended. Add the egg and mix well. Stir in the lemon rind.

Drop by level tablespoons into macaroon shaped mounds, 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the tops are lightly speckled with brown. Makes 20.

Nutrition info per mound: Effective carbohydrates 0.6g; Carbohydrates, 1g; Fibre 0.4g; Protein, 0.8g; Fat, 5.4g; Calories, 54.

I can personally vouch for Karen's recipes and cooking...

I can't wait to get this book!!! Karen, I always hear how delicious your food is. My DH is the cook in the house and likes to use recipes from book rather than off the net (or ones I bring home printed from this site-- grrr!). I think I just my have to get this for him for x-mas. Two birds, one stone-- I get the book and great Karen dinners and DH is none the wiser thinking what he's cooking are recipes he found all by himself. I like this idea!

Congratz Karen! I wish you many continued successes!

How awesome that Donald's Quiche is in there!!

It's an awsome recipe!

Karen

I have Karen's book and I absolutely love it!

To be honest, anything with "gourmet" in the title sounds intimidating to me. I'm a bacon-and-eggs kind of cook. But there's nothing complicated about this book. There's a wide variety of recipes with a range of syles and 'effort' levels. In addition to the new ideas I can't wait to try, like the Asian inspired recipes, it's very strong on basic LC cooking, with recipes for (and variations on) stand-bys like spaghetti squash, cauliflower mash, and chicken stock. Sometimes, appropriate condiments are hard to come by, so I was happy to see the recipes for ketchup, barbecue sauce, and pesto.

This book will be a big asset to my kitchen.

Funny how things work out. I wanted to buy my boyfriend a birthday present, and I figured a low carb cook-book would be useful. He was reading lowcarber.org. I had not started yet.

So I went into a reasonably large Barnes and Noble, and checked out the books, and found this one was absolutely the best. It gives the carb counts. They really ARE low carb, and it is the kind of food we like.

Only thing I am still trying to figure out is how to get Canadian sugar twin in the U.S. I assume lots of people deal with this. Has anyone tried buying it from canadapharmacy.com?

Mary-Anne

I just saw Karen prepare the Spinach, Ricotta and Pesto Lasagna on House and Home. I *never* watch that show but I was flipping channels and recognized you Karen and had to stop and watch the segment.

I will definetely buy the cookbook because now I *can* have lasagna again. Woohoo!!

MMM. I'm a cookbook collector (what can I say? I love to eat, I HAVE to cook, and I feel like I might as well enjoy reading the recipes, too!) This is DEFINITELY going on my Christmas list! Everything I've ever tried from here that has Karen's name on it is outstanding!

Jude