Health-Conscious Comfort Food

by Laura Donnelly — February 9, 2007

Ever get a craving for some good old-fashioned comfort food? Why is it that some of these dishes we love, like macaroni and cheese or freshly baked biscuits, aren't all that good for us? Which makes them not so comforting after all when we consider all the fat we just ingested.

Raised in the South, I have an inherent fondness for all these delicious things, especially crab cakes! If you can learn a few tricks in modifying the recipes, reducing the fat without sacrificing any of the flavor, you will learn to alter just about any favorite comfort food. The same goes for restaurant food. Chinese restaurants are notorious for serving what appear to be healthy vegetable-rich stir fries, but when you take a closer look, they are swimming in oil.

Try a homemade Kung Pao Chicken at home. Use low-fat evaporated and sweetened condensed milk in creamy and/or dessert recipes. Although I don't care for non-fat products, the reduced fat cottage cheeses, sour creams, and cream cheeses on the market are good substitutes for full-fat versions. Part-skim mozzarella melts beautifully and high-quality parmesan cheese, naturally low in fat, goes a long way, thanks to its strong, sharp flavor. Have fun experimenting with substitutions and you may be surprised at how much flavor still comes through.

Crab Cakes

Our first dish for a week of healthy comfort food uses low-fat yogurt and just a tablespoon of olive oil. You can serve these with lime wedges, dollops of Dijon mustard, and Tabasco sauce on the side. No need for mayonnaise-based for tartar sauce! Some recipes tell you to pick over crabmeat to remove shell fragments before cooking, but most fresh crabmeat has very little shell in it and picking it over breaks up the beautiful lumps. Handle with care.

Serves 4

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 shallot, minced
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1 egg
1 Tablespoon Old Bay Crab Seasoning
1 lb. fresh jumbo lump crabmeat
1 cup dry bread crumbs
Salt and pepper to taste
Vegetable-oil spray, such as Pam

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Sauté shallot in olive oil until softened; add lemon juice and zest and remove from heat.

3. When cool, add yogurt, egg, and Old Bay seasoning. Carefully fold in bread crumbs and crabmeat. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Spray cooking oil into nonstick muffin pan. Place in preheated oven for five minutes. Remove the pan and quickly spoon crabcake mixture into muffin cups. Bake 5 minutes.

5. Remove muffin pan, turn crabcakes over, and return to oven to bake 5 minutes more or until golden brown.