99% Fat-Free Italian Cooking: All your favorite dishes ...

Barry Bluestein and Kevin Morrissey are the bestselling authors of three earlier 99% fat-free cookbooks;bThe Complete Cookie/b; and several other cookbooks, includingbThe Bountiful Kitchen/b, which was nominated for a 1998 Julia Child Cookbook Award. They live in Chicago, where for six years they were the owners of Seasoned to Taste, a store specializing in cookbooks.bIntroduction/bbrbrA creamy risotto brimming with mussels . . . a bowl of silky fresh spinach pasta dotted with salt cod and tomatoes . . . a skewer of veal threaded around baby spring vegetables . . . an ethereal roasted red pepper flan--such are the rewards of the 99% fat-free Italian kitchen.brbrContrary to the misconceptions of Americans reeling from too many overdone pizzas, too many meatballs and sausages, and far, far too much sauce on dishes that would be unfamiliar in Italian homes, Italian cooking and healthful eating are a natural match. Fresh fruits and vegetables, grains, seafood, and minimal saucing are the hallmarks of the real Italian kitchen. Much like health-conscious diners everywhere, Italians have always used meat as an accent rather than as the main component of the meal, have eaten a variety of small courses rather than a huge portion of any single item, and have viewed rich, sugar-laden desserts as special-occasion treats rather than part of the everyday diet.brbrWith the exceptions of tempering the Italian devotion to olive oil and substituting fat-free for full-fat dairy products--but allowing a finishing flourish of heavenly Parmigiano-Reggiano or pecorino cheese, which is well worth the fat grams--little sacrifice is necessary to adapt classic Italian cuisine to a fat-free regimen.brbrAnd little is more rewarding. Americans no longer need to be educated about the perils of our traditionally high-fat diet and now understand the role that lowering fat can play in controlling numerous preventable, diet-related health problems. But we nevertheless want