As I mentioned back in my Goals for 2010 post, I have not gone paleo as many of my Objectivist friends have, but I have reduced my carb consumption quite a bit. Where I used to eat cereal for breakfast, now I have salami and cheese; where I used to load up my plate with rice or couscous to go with whatever meat and vegetable I was having, I now limit the grain portion to no more than half a cup, or skip the grain altogether. I've found that I get fewer hunger spikes this way, and maintaining the weight loss I achieved last year has been no problem. I still have a deep love of distinctly non-paleo desserts, particularly cake and pastries, but even those I have less often in favor of chocolate-covered almonds or a rich chocolate ice cream (Ronnybrook Farm's Chocolate Silk is pretty damn awesome).
I'm not interested in using this post to persuade others who haven't adopted paleo at any level to do what I have done, nor to be persuaded to go whole hog (pun intended) by those who are full-on paleo purists. Rather, because I love to cook, I wanted to share a few of my favorite full-on paleo and paleo-friendly recipes that I've discovered since switching to a less carb-heavy lifestyle. Here we go -- and I'll post more as I find them!
Salmon fillet en papillote with julienned vegetables, by Alton Brown. This recipe makes use of a method that paleo man most certainly did not have at his disposal -- the microwave! If you're thinking, "I can make a tasty dinner in the MICROWAVE? Yeah, right!" I implore you to give it a shot, because in terms of flavor vs effort, this is just about one of the highest bang-for-your-buck recipes I can think of. Basically, you chop some vegetables, put 'em on a piece of parchment, season, throw some fish on top, season that, throw some oranges and a little vermouth on, and toss that baby in the nuke machine and you have dinner. To those purists who do not eat snow peas, it's easy enough to julienne something else, like broccoli stems or asparagus, in their place. The recipe also works for fish other than salmon -- I made it last night with wild striped bass with excellent results (just be aware that you may have to adjust cooking time).
Chicken drumsticks with muhammara sauce, from Epicurious. This is a theme: simply cooked meat with an amazing pureed vegetable-based sauce. Purists should of course omit the bread crumbs from the sauce. Again, an incredibly easy-to-make dish, and very flavorful indeed.
Skirt steak with cilantro-garlic sauce, from Epicurious. See above re: yummy pureed sauces, although this is herb- rather than veggie-based. No need to modify, it's paleo as is!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Have you checked out Elana's Pantry? She has tons of Paleo friendly recipes (excluding the use of agave syrup, I believe) that look wonderful.
http://www.elanaspantry.com/
Lotsa photos of her desserts can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/elanaspantry/sets/72157603310931084/
And just to offer my input: Going Paleo doesn't even really entail giving up your favored non-Paleo foods. I have found there are many substitutes that match, if not surpass, their non-Paleo versions. For instance, I have found that by adding a little baking soda to my almond pancake recipe they taste almost *exactly* like wheat pancakes, so why would I go back to wheat when I have a perfect, healthier replacement for them?
Oh, and if you like ice cream -- and I haven't tried this yet, but intend to -- you can simply use coconut milk as a substitute. All you have to do is flavor it so as to overcome to the coconut flavor (or leave it in if you want to), chill if a few hours, and then eat like regular ice cream.
Salami and cheese for breakfast sounds yummy. Lately I've been having coffee and a cheese stick - does that count as paleo-ish? :) I never have been able to figure out how American breakfasts (other than the typical bacon/eggs combo) became such sugary carbfests. They are the absolute worst way to start the day, no matter what your philosophy is on food.
Post a Comment