Patti Labelle's Lite Cuisine Page 9
Coat a Dutch oven with fat-free cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat until smoking hot. Add the roast and cook until browned all over, 1 to 2 minutes per side.
Reduce the heat to medium-low and pour in the broth. Cover and simmer for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Skim off any excess fat from the surface of the liquid in the pan. Halve the onions lengthwise if they are large. Scatter the onions, celery, and mushrooms around the roast. Pour in the tomato sauce, cover, and simmer until the vegetables are tender and the meat registers 160°F on an instant-read thermometer, 45 to 55 minutes. Stir in the sour cream and parsley.
Patti’s Pointers: If you can’t find a 4-pound rump roast, bottom round roast works just as well.
Per Serving: 310 calories, 33 g protein, 7 g carbohydrate, 17 g fat, 7 g saturated fat, 105 mg cholesterol, 1 g dietary fiber, 390 mg sodium
Diet Exchanges: 4 medium-fat meats, 1 vegetable, or ½ carbohydrate choice
“Barbecue” Pork Chops
You know the saying “sing for your supper”? Well, one night I did just that. I wanted to cook these pork chops for Sunday dinner but the market where I buy my meats closed a few minutes before I got there. I could see folks inside closing up so I just knocked on the window and, well, you know the famous Temptations song “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg”? Enough said. One of the employees took pity on me and unlocked the door. I was pretty sure he didn’t recognize me because I had on my disguise—big sunglasses and an even bigger hat. But my high-heeled pumps gave me away. (I don’t do flat shoes, even when I’m trying to be anonymous.) Boyfriend looked at them, then he looked at me. He looked at me, then he looked at them.
“Oh my God,” he whispered, “you’re Patti LaBelle.”
“Yeah, Sugar, it’s me,” I said, trying to get my chops and get out of there fast, quick, and in a hurry. “Don’t tell anybody. And thanks for letting me in.”
You can pretty much guess where this story is headed.
“Miss LaBelle,” he said as he was ringing up my chops, “I’m a big fan. A really big fan. Before you leave, would you mind singing just a little something?”
What could I say? The kid had let me in after closing time. So, right there at the cash register, I crooned a few bars of “When You’ve Been Blessed, Pass It On.” I thought that was the right note to leave on, don’t you?
Makes 6 servings
6 boneless center-cut loin pork chops, about 4 ounces each
½ cup fat-free low-sodium chicken broth or water, divided
¼ cup reduced-fat Caesar dressing (not creamy)
¼ cup light teriyaki sauce, such as Kikkoman’s
¼ cup chili sauce
2 teaspoons brown sugar replacement, such as Brown Sugar Twin
½ teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Coat a large skillet with fat-free cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat until smoking hot. Add the chops and cook until browned on both sides, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Drain off any excess fat.
In a medium bowl, combine ¼ cup of the broth or water, the Caesar dressing, teriyaki sauce, chili sauce, brown sugar replacement, and poultry seasoning. Reduce the heat to medium-low and pour the mixture over the chops. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
Yours truly in disguise—or so I thought!
Turn the chops over and cook, covered, until the chops register 160°F on an instant-read thermometer, about 20 to 25 minutes more.
Dissolve the cornstarch in the remaining ¼ cup of broth or water. Move the chops to the side and pour the cornstarch mixture into the skillet. Cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens, 1 to 2 minutes.
Per Serving: 200 calories, 26 g protein, 5 g carbohydrate, 8 g fat, 2.5 g saturated fat, 75 mg cholesterol, 0 g dietary fiber, 430 mg sodium
Diet Exchanges: 3 medium-fat meats or 0 carbohydrate choices
Pass-It-On Pork Crown Roast
Early in my career, when my son Zuri was small, I missed a lot of special times with him and my family. Times I’ll never get back—birthdays, holidays, Mom-will-you-come-see-my-school-play days. In the seventies, Labelle was trying to break into the big leagues and we were out on the road a lot. Even the most special holidays were no exception, although I know now that they should have been. Years ago my best friend, Claudette, tried to tell me how important it was to spend them with friends and family.
“Patsy, please,” she pleaded one long-ago November afternoon. “You have to come home for Thanksgiving this year.”
I told Claudette what I always did. “This tour is too important, maybe next year.”
There aren’t many decisions I’ve made in my life that I’ve regretted more. Since that phone call from Claudette, I’ve been out on hundreds of tours. But that was the last holiday I ever had the chance to celebrate with Claudette. Shortly after, my sister-in-spirit died of breast cancer at the age of thirty-eight.
I’ll never forget what Claudette said when I told her I couldn’t come home. I only wish I’d listened to what she said.
“Friends and family should always come first, Patsy. They don’t read your resume at your funeral.”
This is a friends-and-family recipe. The kind of meal you serve when you’re celebrating something special—like being home for the holidays. And good friends like Claudette.
Makes 14 servings
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon salt, divided
¾ teaspoon ground black pepper, divided
1 pork rib crown roast (5 to 6 pounds, 12 to 14 ribs)
1 onion, quartered
1 cup baby carrots
1 celery rib, sliced
½ cup water or more, as needed
1½ cups dry white wine
Preheat the oven to 450°F.
In a cup, mix together the olive oil, garlic, poultry seasoning, ¾ teaspoon of the salt, and ½ teaspoon of the pepper. Thoroughly rub the roast with this mixture, making sure to rub the meat of each rib.
Place the roast on a rack in a roasting pan. Wrap a small piece of foil around the tips of each of the rib bones to prevent blackening (see Patti’s Pointers). Scatter the onion, carrots, and celery around the roast. Roast for 20 minutes.
Reduce the heat to 325°F and drizzle ¼ cup of the water over the vegetables. Roast until the meat registers 150°F on an instant read thermometer (without touching bone), about 1 hour and 45 minutes more. Drizzle the vegetables with more water, ¼ cup at a time, whenever they begin to look dry (which will depend upon the amount of fat on your roast). Transfer the roast to a platter and let stand 10 minutes before serving.
Transfer the vegetables to a strainer and skim the fat from the pan juices (see Patti’s Pointers). Hold the strainer over the roasting pan and press the vegetables with a potato masher to squeeze as much juice as possible from the vegetables into the pan.
Place the roasting pan over one or two burners on medium-high heat and pour in the wine. Boil until the liquid is reduced by half. Stir in the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Serve the pan sauce with the roast.
The beautiful and beloved Claudette, my sister-in-spirit.
Option: This roast looks even more impressive served with stuffing in the center. Cook your favorite stuffing in a separate baking dish in the oven along with the roast (you’ll need 5 to 6 cups stuffing, enough to fill an 8-inch-square pan). Spoon the cooked stuffing into the center of the roast before serving. Want the over-the-top look without the over-the-top calories? Fill the center with a whole head of roasted cauliflower or your favorite prepared side dish vegetable.
Patti’s Pointers: Like the Melt-in-Your-Mouth Roast Tenderloin on page 88, this dish is a real dazzler. We’re talking fall-down-on-the-floor-and-weep flavor and appearance. That said, at my house, it’s another strictly special-occasion meal. Make that super special occasion. (You’ll know why when the butcher hands you the bill.) Price, I’m sure
, is one good reason I have yet to find a pork crown roast in the meat case at the supermarket. So remember, when you’re ready to prepare this dish, you’ll have to order it in advance from your butcher.
To make those cute little decorative foil covers for the bones, cut twelve to fourteen 3-inch-square pieces of foil (cut the same number of pieces as rib bones on your roast). Wrap each piece of foil around the butt end of a carrot to create a rounded top. Slip a formed piece of foil over each rib bone and pinch the bottom of the foil securely onto the bone, leaving the top puffed and rounded. All that cutting and wrapping too much hassle? Then just wrap the bones in foil to prevent blackening. Before serving, remove them and top the bones with pitted olives, paper frills (sold in most grocery stores)—or with no topping whatsoever.
Here’s another great timesaving secret: To de-fat the pan juices, use a fat separator. It looks like a plastic measuring cup with a spout that reaches to the bottom of the cup. The fat rises to the top of the cup—then you just pour out the pan juices through the bottom spout. Brilliant.
And last but not least, to carve the roast easily, insert a fork in the top of the roast to steady it and make downward slices close to each rib bone.
Per Serving: 320 calories, 28 g protein, 2 g carbohydrate, 20 g fat, 7 g saturated fat, 85 mg cholesterol, less than 1 g dietary fiber, 390 mg sodium
Diet Exchanges: 4 medium-fat meats or 0 carbohydrate choices
People-Pleasing Poultry
Terrific Turkey Pasta Casserole
Makes 6 servings
6 ounces wide no-yolk egg noodles
1 tablespoon margarine
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup sliced mushrooms
½ cup chopped red bell pepper
½ cup chopped green onions, including green part
1½ pounds 95 percent lean ground turkey (not 99 percent lean turkey breast;
see headnote on Serious Sloppy Joes, page 28)
One 10¾-ounce can 98 percent fat-free condensed cream of mushroom soup
2 tablespoons light teriyaki sauce, such as Kikkoman
1½ teaspoons poultry seasoning
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
8 ounces reduced-fat sour cream
¼ teaspoon paprika
Preheat the oven to 32°F. Coat a 2-quart baking dish with fat-free cooking spray.
Cook the noodles according to package instructions, leaving out any salt or butter. Drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, melt the margarine in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the celery, mushrooms, red bell pepper, and green onions. Cook until just tender, about 4 minutes. Add the turkey and cook, breaking up the meat with a spoon, until the turkey is no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Drain off any excess liquid.
Stir in the soup, teriyaki sauce, poultry seasoning, salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring often.
Stir in the sour cream and noodles. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish and sprinkle with the paprika. Cover with foil, and bake until heated through, about 15 minutes.
Patti’s Pointers: Be sure and use light teriyaki sauce; the regular kind has goo-gobs of sodium. With all the other goodies in this dish, I promise you won’t miss the taste. And if you’re trying to shake the salt habit, use only 1 tablespoon of the teriyaki sauce. Before digging in, you can season with your favorite salt substitute if needed.
Per Serving: 330 calories, 25 g protein, 21 g carbohydrate, 16 g fat, 6 g saturated fat, 115 mg cholesterol, 2 g dietary fiber, 710 mg sodium
Diet Exchanges: 3 lean meats, 1 fat, 1 vegetable, or 1½ carbohydrate choices
Really Good Roast Chicken Caesar
When I was a kid, I spent the summers with my Grandmother Ellen on her farm in Florida. Grandmother Ellen believed in chicken eating but she didn’t believe in chicken buying. At least not from a store. When Grandmother Ellen felt like cooking chicken, she’d just go outside, choose a nice fat bird, then swing it over her head until she broke its neck. In no time she’d have it cleaned, plucked, and fried. And it was so good it would put the Colonel’s to shame. While Grandmother Ellen wouldn’t be caught dead buying or baking a chicken, you can do both. The results will be seriously delicious, not to mention a whole lot easier on you—and the chicken.
Makes 6 servings
One 3½- to 4-pound chicken (with skin)
1 lemon, pierced all over with a fork
4 garlic cloves, smashed
½ cup lite Caesar dressing (not creamy), such as Ken’s Steakhouse
2 teaspoons rotisserie chicken seasoning, such as McCormick’s
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Preheat the oven to 450°F.
Rinse the chicken and chicken cavity in cold water and pat dry inside and out with paper towels.
Put the lemon and garlic inside the chicken cavity.
In a small bowl, mix together the Caesar dressing, rotisserie chicken seasoning, poultry seasoning, Italian seasoning, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Brush the mixture all over the chicken.
Place the chicken breast side down on a rack in a roasting pan; roast for 20 minutes.
Reduce the heat to 350°F. Turn the chicken breast side up on the rack and brush all over with the seasoning mixture. Roast, brushing with the seasoning mixture two more times, until an instant-read thermometer registers 165°F when inserted into a thigh and the juices run clear, 35 to 40 minutes more.
Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
At home chilling poolside until my chicken gets done. (That’s water, not soda, in the glass!)
Patti’s Pointers: I use rotisserie chicken seasoning instead of plain table salt in this recipe because it gives the chicken that gorgeous golden-brown color home ovens rarely produce but commercially cooked rotisserie chicken is famous for. To reduce the fat and calories even more, remove the skin before eating. The chicken will be so moist and flavorful you won’t even miss it.
To turn the hot chicken during cooking, remove the chicken from the oven and stick the handles of two long wooden spoons into both ends of the bird. Rotate the chicken on the handles to turn over.
Per Serving: 510 calories, 42 g protein, 6 g carbohydrate, 35 g fat, 10 g saturated fat, 205 mg cholesterol, 0 g dietary fiber, 580 mg sodium
Diet Exchanges: 6 lean meats, 3 fats, or ½ carbohydrate choice
Chicken Cacciatore
I have a love/hate relationship with this recipe. I love it because it’s a family-filling favorite. I hate it because it fills the house with such heavenly aromas that, whenever I cook it, everybody crowds into my kitchen. We’ll be packed in there like sardines and nobody will offer to leave. When you make this dish at your house, the same thing is sure to happen. When it does, use my Grandmother Ellen’s surefire way of getting everybody out. Grab a pan—Grandmother Ellen always used a big old cast-iron skillet—and, in your best I-am-not-joking voice, tell folks that if they’re not gone when you finish counting to ten you’re going to hit somebody upside the head with it.
Makes 6 servings
1 tablespoon reduced-calorie margarine
3 medium yellow squash, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 large green pepper, cut into strips
¾ cup sliced fresh mushrooms
One 14.5-ounce can Italian-style stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley or 1 teaspoon dried
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Six 4-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breasts
⅓ cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon paprika
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Melt the margarine in a large, deep ovenproof sauté pan or stove-top casserole dish over medium heat. Add the squash, onion, green pepper, mushrooms, tomatoes, oregano, parsley, poultry seasoning, and black pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.
Arrange the chicken on top of the vegetables. Sprinkle with the Parmesan and paprika. Cover and bake until an instant-read thermometer registers 160°F in a breast and the juices run clear, 25 to 30 minutes.
Turn on the broiler and broil until the top is nicely browned, about 5 minutes.
Option: This dish is wonderful over pasta. And rice works well, too. Either way, you’ll need ½ cup uncooked for each serving (3 cups total).
Patti’s Pointers: If you have a deep skillet with plastic handles, you can still use it. Just wrap the handles in several layers of heavy-duty foil to protect them while the skillet is in the oven.
Per Serving: 260 calories, 34 g protein, 14 g carbohydrate, 7 g fat, 2.5 g saturated fat, 85 mg cholesterol, 4 g dietary fiber, 350 mg sodium