Something healthy, something yummy

MANILA, Philippines – Face it. Taste is the paramount consideration when dining at popular restaurants. Forget balance, overlook inappropriately enormous serving sizes and to heck with healthy eating. When something tastes really good, the temptation to indulge is especially great. Fortunately for today’s diners, however, professionally trained chefs are particularly knowledgeable about the nutritional aspects of various foods. Aware that health is a primary concern for most, they take extra pains to prepare meals that are delicious, but will not compromise wellbeing. It could be said that the “great” restaurants are distinguishable from just “good” restaurants because the food featured there won’t have deleterious effects even if one enjoys these very frequently.

At the luncheon held at Aubergine Restaurant recently, executive chef  Stefan Langehan and sous chef Samuel Linder showed that cooking a well-balanced, fiber-rich meal is a creative display of culinary skill. By choosing nutritious ingredients and combining textures and flavors, they effectively demonstrated that “healthy” need not translate to “boring.” And because the meal was dubbed “The C-lium High Fiber Cook-off” to highlight the importance of fiber in the diet, each visually appealing course included a fiber-rich component.

Vichyssoise, or a cold cream and potato soup, served to signal the meal. This was quickly followed by poached quail egg on truffled parsley mousse, Parma ham and sauce Hollandaise served with baked tomato stuffed with scrambled egg. A wedge of toasted whole grain bread and smoked salmon rounded out the dish. It was easy to distinguish that, although the tomato had some fiber content, whole grain bread was the main source of fiber here. Cut thinly and toasted to a crisp, the triangle of brown bread and the combination that came with it was light enough to whet the appetite.

A seafood medley of lobster, scallops and Norwegian salmon with orange beurre blanc (white butter) served on barley-green pea risotto and asparagus spears followed next. Accompanied by crisp greens, the dish was a delight. The grilled lobster was tender and smoky, the salmon and scallops were fresh and the asparagus spears were cooked yet remained crisp. The barley-green pea risotto was especially flavorful since it was cooked with fish stock. We especially enjoyed this, and it occurred to us that for parents who want to make sure that their kids are eating healthy, green-pea or some other kind of risotto could serve as healthy baby food instead of the commercially bottled combinations. Of course the risotto should be cooked until the right consistency is reached if meant for infants.

Identifying fiber content became somewhat of a game during the meal, but one need not be a culinary Sherlock Holmes to know that the vegetables and barley were sources of fiber in the second course.

A refreshing guava sherbet was next, and then we were served the main course: Pan-seared duck foie gras, Australian rack of lamb and braised veal cheek, with port wine jus served on mushroom-lentil stew and potato gnocchi. The combination was a clear example that as long as one strives for some balance, one can enjoy anything. For example, fatty duck liver is unhealthy in excess, but the healthy, fiber-rich lentil stew with celeriac, button and shiitake mushrooms evens it out. It occurred to us that should one prefer to do so, the dietary fiber content of gnocchi or potato and flour dumplings could be enhanced by adding C-lium Fiber since it would not alter taste. And soon enough, guest chef Tristan Encarnacion came out to whip up his own quick dish with a sauce thickened with C- lium.

“Fiber reduces blood sugar, cholesterol and weight, and helps reduce the risk of heart disease,” said Dr. Eliseo Banaynal, medical director of Pascual Laboratories. He explained that C-lium is from 100 percent psyllium husk — probably the best dietary in the world. “It promotes gastrointestinal well-being.” 

And for gourmands who enjoy eating but cannot stick to their high-fiber diets all the time, the product can be a good, healthy alternative.