In Everyone's Table, Top Chef star Gregory Gourdet provides home cooks with 200 versatile recipes for "modern health"--a concept he loosely defines as "not a crash diet but a sustainable lifestyle." This way of eating is somewhat paleo-adjacent, heavy on vegetables and sustainable meat and seafood ingredients; the trick, according to Gourdet, is that these dishes are so bold in flavor and exceptional in style that "you probably wouldn't notice that all two hundred recipes are free of gluten, dairy, soy, refined sugar, and legumes," instead seeing only "food you want to make."
And he's right: the recipes here--accompanied with bright, vibrant photographs of fresh ingredients and beautifully plated dishes--promise an abundance of flavor, with ingredients highlighted in such a way that it's easy to forget that some "standard" ingredients, like flour and canola oil, aren't there. Dishes like Creamy Asparagus Salad with Sunflower Seed Furikake, and Mushrooms with Chile, Lime and Mint, are hearty enough to stand as main dishes, or sit aside mains like Seared Scallops or Crispy Fried Chicken with Smoky Chili Salt. Desserts like Apple Bundt Cake with Cider Caramel use alternative flours and sweeteners to create paleo-friendly treats, and an entire chapter on Ferments, Pickles and Preserves offers creative ways to add extra flavor to any dish.
Gourdet includes reflections on his own path to healthful eating--including a detour through alcoholism and addiction--noting that nourishing his body has become part of his sober lifestyle. Sobriety and health don't have to mean sacrificing flavor, creativity or inspiration, however--as evidenced across each page of Everyone's Table. --Kerry McHugh, blogger at Entomology of a Bookworm