Conscious Cuisine

In the kitchen, I am an all-Italian girl. Not that I don't like french food. In fact, my very first memories of food from the West were french, when Cuisine Francaise was the fad in the 80s in Hong Kong, and my parents did not hesitate to expose me to escargot d'herbes, fois gras, and tarte tartin. I was so inspired that I took 4 years of French extra-curriculae from high school through my sophomore year in college. But I have never made a conscious (no pun intended) effort to attempt french cooking. I had made a few souffles here and there, and at one point clafoutis was a staple snack in my household. But I never embraced the whole french thing. Maybe it was my misperceived pomp in French cooking. Maybe I was turned off by the emphasis on technical words like deglacer, degorger, tomber, revenir, beurre manie that appear too pervasively in ENGLISH cookbooks, making me feel that french cooking belongs to the professional kitchens rather than at home. And it really doesn't help that I'm not into game - which means I cannot cook half of the french recipes which include quail, venison, grouse, and alike. In general, french cooking communicated to me fussiness and a style out-of-reach, and italain just seems so much more down -to-earth, and less time-consuming.
But I was wrong (and it's hard to admit that!). I came across Chef Cary Neff's wonderful cookbook, Conscious Cuisine and that was what changed my mind. Neff is a french-trained chef and now the executive chef at Miraval spa & resort, working at developing classical dishes with health-conscious ingredients. His recipes are innovative, and I gasped at his inclusion of tofu in making Aioli. But they worked. I know, it's really hard to believe that tofu can substitute for the eggs in such a classic, but I'm sold after I've made it on my own.
What's better is that the book introduced me to the down-to-earth realm of french cooking, namely, the sauces. I never knew that a simple red wine or balsamic reduction, or a lemon garlic sauce, or a herbes de Provence vinagrette can transform a plain piece of meat, poultry, or seafood into a dish bursting with color and flavor. The best part is that with the sauces handy, preparation time can be reduced to just the time for cooking the meat, about 15 minutes! Yes! Eating a very stylish french meal does not need to be a major production, and preparation is so practical that you can eat french every day if you want! Very attractive to a busy mom who still want to make daily eating with a toddler an appreciative experience, not a chore...
Conscious Cuisine did more than warming me up to french cooking, though. It opened a whole new innovative approach to cooking itself. Reading through the recipes and Neff's notes, I'm effected by his boldness and dedication to making healthy and low-fat dishes with even boosted flavor and pleasant surprises on the taste buds. Cooking can be such a creative process, and it makes your creativity so tangible that you can taste it in its final form. Now whenever I'm in the kitchen fiddling with my tried-and-true recipes, I would ask, "Can I substitute that omnipotent pound of butter with (at least partially) low-fat sour cream?" Or "maybe I can spice up my routine Catalana by scenting it with lavender? Or maybe even chamomile? The possibilities are endless.
Reflecting on this recent epiphany in my cooking, I concluded that my previous aversion to french cooking was mostly based on prejudices on a few dishes and a few experiences of "pompness." Sure I have noticed before that clafoutis and a homey boeuf-carot are down-to-earth, ratatouille and pistou/pesto are interchangerable between italian and french, and italian cooking definitely has its share of pinky-up sort of sophistication, and yes, profuse use of game. But I was so much after the image of french cuisine (well, and its gamey dishes) that these observations didn't mean much to me. But putting my hands to work through Neff's dedicated instructions on some of the french culinary techniques, and guided by his many practical and creative solutions to make some of the most delicate french dishes in a home kitchen, I have seen the light. It is like getting to know somebody whom you had a poor first impression while discovering all of a sudden that you can be friends. It's labor, it's fun, it's refreshing.
Maybe one day I will even break my inhibition from game if I try on Neff's game dishes. I am quite hopeful.
**The cookbook Conscious Cuisine is not dedicated to only french cooking. I tend to focus on the french recipes because of the new insights they have given me.