Gwyneth Paltrow’s diet caused controversy when people found out she had her whole family going gluten-free. But we think all of that will be put to rest soon: Her just-released cookbook, It’s All Good: Delicious Easy Recipes That Will Make You Look Good and Feel Great, is balanced and not as extreme as others have imagined. Elizabeth Street got to take an early look. (We’ve been looking forward to it for a while now.)
Our thoughts? Sure, the recipes are gluten and dairy-free. But they look delicious and some are even indulgent. (She offers plenty of fun sweet treats for the kiddos.) Speaking of kiddos, there’s a whole chapter for them aptly called “The Kids’ Menu,” with lots of things we can imagine our kids being more than willing to eat. How can they not love (gluten-free) fish fingers, crunchy nuggets, and chicken fajitas? And there are so many more healthy kids’ dinners and snack ideas. The ingredients might seem strange at first: To try a lot of these dishes, you’re going to have to introduce your grocery list to vegenaise and miso paste. But once you’ve stocked your pantry, the recipes are actually quite straightforward and kid friendly.
We were fans of Paltrow’s recipes on her lifestyle website Goop and now we’re fans of her new cookbook as well. We’ll definitely be using this cookbook to make healthy dinners—and lunches and snacks—so we’re super excited to share this recipe for healthy meatballs from It’s All Good. We think it would make the perfect healthy kids’ dinner, but you could just as easily stick a toothpick in each meatball and serve them with wine for a grown-up cocktail party.
—Hally Wolhandler
Japanese Chicken Meatballs
It’s All Good: Delicious Easy Recipes That Will Make You Look Good and Feel Great by Gwyneth Paltrow and Julia Turshen (Grand Central Life & Style, 2013; $32)
Gwyneth Says…
I have a hard time not gobbling these up when they’re being served to the kids. They’re so good! Very simple to prepare, and served with [hoisin sauce], Moses and his friends murder a big plate of these after kickboxing class. Turn these into a whole meal by serving them alongside cut-up vegetables to dip into carrot-ginger dressing.
Makes 2 dozen meatballs
1 pound ground chicken (preferably dark meat)
½ tsp. coarse sea salt
½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 garlic clove, very finely minced
1 tsp. freshly grated ginger
1 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. good-quality maple syrup
2 tbsp. neutral oil (like canola, grapeseed, or safflower oil)
[Hoisin Sauce] for serving
Thoroughly mix the chicken with the salt, pepper, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and maple syrup. Roll the mixture into golf ball-sized meatballs. Grill, roast, broil, or pan-fry the meatballs until they’re cooked through and serve with sauce.