Chef's Healthy Pasta

Chef’s Healthy Pasta
by Fred Edrissi

Wait. Please back up, and read this title again. That’s right, Chef’s Healthy Pasta comes to us from a talented professional chef and it celebrates the healthy attributes of pasta. The newest alive Natural Health Guide is a pasta book with punch.

Between lavishly photographed pages, this is a pasta book that offers more than recipes. The chef in the title is Fred Edrissi, a European-trained chef and restaurateur who has delighted gourmets internationally. He specializes in the natural, wholesome cuisine of southern Italy. Edrissi also happens to be gifted with an artistry of presentation that makes his recipes a feast for the eyes as well as the palate.

How inspiring, to find a professional chef who shares healthy kitchen skills in this way! The book’s brief introduction is a spring-board to innovative pasta recipes. They’re sure to please vegetarians who want more than spaghetti with tomato sauce in their lives.

Many health-conscious cooks have yet to sample the more exotic pastas now so readily available from local health food stores. Here you can learn just what do with spelt, kamut, amaranth and quinoa pasta. Combined with the right oils (a simple chart guides you in correct oil selection) and the freshest of organic ingredients, these pastas will make a meal that not only tastes great, but feels good too.

Edrissi’s winning recipes are made so by virtue of their ingredients, rather than by the complexity of their preparation. Simple recipes make use of surprising flavor combinations to make each recipe a new favorite. Who can resist "Fettuccine with Grilled Apple and Goat Cheese" for example? "Farfalle with Orange" is wonderfully refreshing both warm or eaten cold on a summer day. "Curried Rotini Salad with Pineapple" is just the right thing to find waiting at home after a long day, as is "Gemelli with Root Vegetables" (made with Marsala wine).

Chef’s Healthy Pasta is a page-turner. Each recipe is more intriguing than the last. Edrissi’s originality in the kitchen, combined with a deep understanding of ingredients, allows for such culinary sensations as "Pasta Bonbons," "Open-Faced Lasagne with Tomato Confit," "Beet-Pistachio Ravioli with Paprika-Cream Sauce," and many more. There is pesto too, plenty of pesto. For the freshest, very best in pasta, there are instructions for making your own from scratch.

Chef’s Healthy Pasta is a winning combination of healthy ingredients, delicious and stimulating recipes and gorgeous food. Start boiling the water, it’s time for pasta!