It’s all good easy!
Following up her uber-popular “It’s All Good,” health-foodie Gwyneth Paltrow is back with a new cookbook that brings delicious, healthy dishes with little or no sugar, fat or gluten to the everyday at-home cook. “It’s All Easy: Delicious Recipes for the Super Busy Home Cook” (goop press/Grand Central Life & Style) has more than 125 of Gwyneth’s favorite recipes, from breakfast to dessert.
“The food doesn’t need to be complicated to be good,” Gwyneth writes in the intro. “You don’t need to work for days to create that feeling of wholeness.”
And in this cookbook, healthy doesn’t equal boring. The Moroccan Chicken Salad Wrap, Thai Curry Noodle Pot, Cauliflower Mac ‘N’ Cheese and Chocolate Banana Milk Shake recipes are calling your name.
“That’s the idea here: Approach the kitchen with an air of easiness,” Gwyneth writes in the intro. “Because even if life isn’t all easy—far from it—sitting down and enjoying a good meal with people you really like can be. It should be.”
One of my favorite summery recipes from the book is the Cauliflower Tabbouleh. Pair this with her Falafel recipe for a Mediterranean match made in heaven.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s Cauliflower Tabbouleh
Serves 4-6 as a side dish
Ingredients:
- 1/2 medium head of cauliflower
- 1 small garlic clove, very finely grated or minced
- Juice of 1 small lemon, plus more to taste
- 1/4 cup olive oil, plus more to taste
- A pinch of Aleppo pepper
- A pinch of salt, plus more to taste
- About 1/2 English cucumber, seeded and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (1 cup)
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh mint
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 scallions, thinly sliced
Directions:
To make the cauliflower “couscous,” break the cauliflower into florets, then pulse in a food processor 10 to 15 times for 1 to 2 seconds each time. Stop when the cauliflower has been broken down into pieces the size of quinoa or couscous.
In the bottom of your serving bowl, whisk together the garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, Aleppo pepper, and a pinch of salt. Add the cauliflower, cucumber, herbs, and scallions and toss to combine. Season with salt, more lemon juice, and olive oil to taste.
Falafel
Makes about 30 small falafel
- Olive oil or cooking spray for baking sheet
- 2 15-ounce cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 10 sprigs fresh parsley, roughly chopped
- 10 sprigs fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
- 4 scallions, thinly sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, very finely grated or minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon harissa powder, or 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/4 cup Greek yogurt
- 2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Grease a baking sheet.
In a food processor, combine the chickpeas, parsley, cilantro, scallions, garlic, cumin, harissa, and yogurt and pulse until combined but not completely smooth, about 15 pulses of 2 seconds each. Season with salt to taste.
Use your hands to roll the mixture into 30 walnut-sized balls, keeping a small bowl of water nearby so the dough doesn’t stick to your fingers.
To cook, arrange the falafel on a greased baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes, flipping halfway through so they don’t burn on the bottom.
These are best eaten right out of the oven.
Enjoy!
Photos by Ditte Isager
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