November 28, 2016

It's All Easy

Celia Sin-Tien Cheng

Gwyneth Paltrow gets a lot of slack for being “perfect,” but wouldn’t we all like to be talented, smart, attractive, and make it look easy? I choose to take her cues and advice to see what kind of magic I can create in my personal life, especially when it comes to cooking. In her latest cookbook, “It’s All Easy,” Paltrow and co-author Thea Bauman share over 125 recipes that are healthy, fabulously delicious, and most importantly, unbelievably easy to prepare — most recipes come together in under 30 minutes. The zucchini cacao e pepe, for example, requires no cooking whatsoever, just spiralizing zucchini into noodles and then combining olive oil, salt, pepper and cheese. The dish was a popular hit in my household this summer, and it takes less than 10 minutes to put together (see recipe below). Another favorite, the miso turnips, are so flavorful that they are usually gone before I can share. The chapters are divided by seasons, for ease of finding fresh ingredients accordingly. The recipes are international in flavor, from bibimbap salad, to Indian creamed spinach, to tuna poke bowl. For me, one of the main draws of Paltrow’s book is that the recipes are all healthful, with little or no sugar, fat or gluten. However, that doesn’t mean that there is no meat or carbs, as evidenced by entries like pancetta in a carbonara and roasted pork in ramen. For the chronically busy, it provides easy solutions to cooking nurturing meals in no time. And where she really has me is that it is all so easy!