April 2004 Article                      

Low Carbs Part II: Combining Low Carbs and Fine Dining
An interview with James Reaux, Executive Chef, Boca Raton Resort & Club

Recipe: Smoked Salmon Fondue with Roasted Garlic and Belgian Endive

Carb conscious cuisine is now featured on the menus of 17 dining venues at the Boca Raton Resort & Club. Yet, James Reaux, executive chef, acknowledges that when people come to a place like Boca, they expect to eat well. That’s why, he explains, that for banquets and catering, he is focusing his low carb efforts on breakfast, lunch, and hors d’oeuvre, rather than the dinner meal. 

Yet evening dining at Boca is considerably healthier than much of your average restaurant fare. “In one meal in some restaurants, you can easily consume 2,000 calories, an entire day’s worth, ” Reaux explains. Better trained chefs (and diners) would help to reduce portion size and improve flavors with less fattening ingredients, he proposes. 

Citing butter as one of the prime culprits, the chef says the challenge is to make it taste as good without butter. He gives cooking in fruit juices, rather than butter, as one example. 

Reaux estimates that a third of his customers have been asking to modify menu items to reduce the carbohydrates, and so he has complied with new menu choices. Here are some specific suggestions from the chef that can be incorporated in menus for meetings:

For breakfast, replace the pastry centered continental with low carb fruits, meat, and cheeses:

• A smoothie made from berries and cottage cheese.
• Low-carb multi-grain bread. (Boca makes their own.)
• Cantaloupe and honeydew melons
• Shaved ham and cheese 

For lunch, even comfort food is acceptable:

• Meat loaf
• A BLT salad with romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and olive oil
• Breast of chicken
• Sweet pumpkin cassoulet
• Fresh vegetables with blue cheese
• Almond crème brulee

“You can be tasteful and exciting without worrying about carbs, ” the chef says.

For breaks and hors d’oeuvres:

• Smoked almonds
• Deviled eggs
• Potato skins roasted with olive oil, salt & pepper.

For dinner, Reaux suggests providing low carb canapés to go with cocktails before the dinner. Then, carb counters don’t need to feel guilty about the dinner. “It’s a time when you want a nice bread,” he says.

Reaux is quite concerned about obesity in America and believes the place to start combating it is with children. He says he wants to come up with a child friendly diet program that’s fun for kids. “It’s a real challenge,” he says, “to make something healthy appeal to kids when they don’t want any green things and they are used to a lot of fried foods.” But, “Once you’re thin, you like being thin, ” he says and that’s a good start toward better eating.

Reaux joined the Resort & Club in 1995 after serving at a number of luxury sea-side resorts including the Century Plaza Hotel and Towers in Los Angeles, the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel in Hawaii, and the Westin Resort in Hilton Head. A Michigan native, the chef is best known for emphasizing seafood characterized by unusual savory combinations. For more information, visit the Boca Raton Resort & Club.

Smoked Salmon Fondue 
with Roasted Garlic and Belgian Endive
Makes 10 Servings

Ingredients:
1 lb Smoked salmon
1 lg (about 1lb) Celeriac bulb 
8 lg cloves Roasted garlic
1/3 cup Extra virgin olive oil
½ cup Half and half
To taste Salt
To taste Freshly ground white pepper
Belgian endive leaves for dipping

Method:
Peel celeriac and cut into 1-inch chunks. Place in saucepan, cover with water, and simmer 30 minutes, until knife can easily pierce to center. Drain. Place salmon in food processor, add garlic, and pulse to finely chop. With machine running, slowly pour in oil through feed tube; process until blended, stopping to scrape bowl with plastic spatula. Add warm celeriac; pulse until evenly smooth, not pureed. Add ½ cup half and half, salt and the pepper; pulse to blend – the mixture should have a little texture. (Add a little more cream if needed.). Scrape into 1 ½ - quart gratin dish. 

To serve: Preheat oven to 425° F. Bake fondue 10 minutes, until hot and browned. Serve with endive for dipping.

Nutritional Information:
Calories: 135
Total fat (g)   9g,  14%
Saturated fat (g)   1g,    7%
Total carbohydrate (g)   3g,   1%