Elegant Low-Calorie Cooking

Carroll offers an assortment of recipes that are sophisticated and enticing even as they hold the calories to a minimum. Information on diet management is merely token, however, and the real strength is in the recipes themselves. Some are revisions of classics, such as a reduced-fat fettuccine Alfredo with zucchini added for flavor and texture. Various cuisines are tapped as in the Indian-influenced curried vegetables with cucumber raita and ginger-apple chutney. There are also a few less-familiar ingredients like the Japanese seaweed in barley-stuffed cabbage rolls with ginger sauce. The dishes require some preparation time and a well-stocked pantry but are not excessively difficult. Curried acorn-squash bisque, German-style potato salad with minced onions, pecan burgers on whole-wheat buns, chicken baked with tomatoes and herbs in parchment, marinated beef kabobs and sauteed salmon fillets with red pepper may well be deemed worth the effort. Carroll is a cooking instructor and food writer. Photos not seen by PW. (Oct.)