Chef It Up with Cathy Katin-Grazzini

The founder of Cathy’s Kitchen Prescription LLC, Cathy Katin-Grazzini is certified in plant-based nutrition from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies at Cornell. She went on to complete professional culinary training at Rouxbe Cooking School and is also a member of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) and a trained PCRM Food for Life instructor. In her new book Love the Foods That Love You Back: Clean, Healthy, Vegan Recipes for Everyone (Rizzoli, 2022), Cathy shares recipes for the food curious and people who like to cook, as well as for home cooks who want to reinvigorate their repertoires and uncover the healing properties of food. “Plants are rising in popularity, so I want to entice food lovers and excite their imaginations with creative remakes of traditional favorites as well as new dishes that are delicious, original, and by the way, really good for us, the planet and our fellow creatures,” she says. Cathy and her husband Giordano Katin-Grazzini, who photographed this cookbook, live in Ridgefield, Connecticut.

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Cathy Katin-Grazzini’s Za’atar Pizzette

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Cooking Tips:

1. The biggest mistake that people make when they attempt to cook without added fats is to assume that food will burn unless a liquid is used. Adding liquid at the get-go will steam whatever is in the pan and prevent desirable caramelization of aromatics in, say, a French mirepoix, Spanish sofrito or Italian battuto.

2. When seasoning, culinary fungi offer many diverse, umami-rich options. Wild or cultivated, fresh or dried, mushrooms bring the scent of the forest into the kitchen.

3. I offer miso as an alternative to salt. Miso, a live probiotic food, lends complex umami flavor and salinity to any savory dish in unique ways.