Cook­book

The Dairy Gourmet: Secret Recipes From Tastebuds

Sarah Las­ry
  • Review
By – February 24, 2012

Kosher dairy food with a con­tem­po­rary touch — pani­nis and wraps, sushi, wal­nut- encrust­ed salmon. These are the dish­es that have attract­ed cus­tomers to Taste­buds, Sarah Lasry’s Lake­wood, New Jer­sey, café, and Las­ry has col­lect­ed eighty of the most pop­u­lar in this hand­some­ly illus­trat­ed col­lec­tion. Ingre­di­ents are famil­iar, and most of the dish­es can be cre­at­ed quick­ly. Las­ry also adds some of her per­son­al hints. But a note to the cook: the recipes do not fol­low a con­ven­tion­al for­mat and occa­sion­al­ly rely on some of the cook’s kitchen knowl­edge. Index.

Recipe: Low-Cal Pizza

Because of our all nat­ur­al, veg­e­tar­i­an- like menu, we have many health con­scious cus­tomers at Taste­buds who request a lot of whole wheat options. Our foc­ca­cia piz­zas are so pop­u­lar that those who are watch­ing their white flour intake were feel­ing left out. So this low-cal piz­za was cre­at­ed, using a flat whole wheat wrap as the base of the piz­za. It now prac­ti­cal­ly out­sells our foc­ca­cia piz­za reg­u­lar­ly. It is Taste­buds’ ver­sion of a thin crust pizza.

Makes 1 Serving

12-inch whole wheat wrap
1/4 cup toma­to sauce
1 clove gar­lic, crushed
1/2 cup spinach
1/4 cup toma­toes
1/2 cup red onions, diced
1/4 cup broc­coli
1/4 cup black olives, chopped
2 oz. ched­dar cheese
2 oz. moz­zarel­la cheese
2 tbsp. extra vir­gin olive oil
oregano, basil & salt for sprinkling

Pre­heat oven to 375 degrees.

On a large bak­ing tray, lay the wrap flat. Spread the gar­lic all over the wrap. Add the toma­to sauce spread­ing from the cen­ter of the wrap out. Lay out the spinach even­ly on top of toma­to sauce and top with the toma­toes, red onions, broc­coli and black olives. Sprin­kle with ched­dar and moz­zarel­la cheese, cov­er­ing the veg­eta­bles. Driz­zle with olive oil and sea­son with oregano, basil, and salt. Bake for about 10 min­utes or until broc­coli has become soft. Serve hot.

**Sub­sti­tute any veg­etable for your favorite kind. The idea is to have the piz­za loaded with low-cal green veg­eta­bles to make it as fill­ing and as tasty as possible.

The Dairy Gourmet: Secret Recipes from Taste­buds by Sarah Las­ry (Israel Book Shop; 2006; $34.95)

Maron L. Wax­man, retired edi­to­r­i­al direc­tor, spe­cial projects, at the Amer­i­can Muse­um of Nat­ur­al His­to­ry, was also an edi­to­r­i­al direc­tor at Harper­Collins and Book-of-the-Month Club.

Discussion Questions