Millennium
leads the way

What do Millennium Restaurant in San Francisco and Castle Medical Center's Pali Gardens Restaurant have in common? They both offer a fresh look into the next century of great vegetarian cuisine.

Since Millennium opened in 1994, it has been widely praised for Chef Eric Tucker's innovative and delicious approach to vegetarian food. The restaurant's dishes were developed under the eye of registered dietitian John Westerdahl, who recently returned to Hawaii to become director of health promotion and nutritional services at Castle Medical Center.

You might say Westerdahl brought a little bit of the "city by the bay" home with him to share. Castle Medical Center now serves recipes from Millennium Restaurant for lunch and dinner every Friday at its Pali Gardens Restaurant.

"The food is sensuous, flavorful and delicious," said Westerdahl. "The types and combinations of flavors and blends of seasonings sets it apart from other vegetarian recipes."

On June 10, from 7 to 8:30 pm, at Castle Center for Health Promotions in Kaneohe, Westerdahl will offer a cooking class featuring recipes from Millennium Restaurant. The class is part of Castle's Veggie Life Gourmet Cooking series. The cost is $10 and everyone who attends will get a meal, a set of recipes, and a vegetarian magazine. Call 263-5400.

Even if you're not a vegetarian, you may want to try some of Millennium's recipes to add variety to your meals. "The Millennium Cookbook" by Tucker and Westerdahl is available at local bookstores (Ten Speed Press, 1998, $19.95).

Dips and spreads are popular for casual summer entertaining, but can be high in fat and calories. It is wise to pay attention to the nutrition facts of ingredients you buy. Mayonnaise- and oil-based dips are among the highest in fat and calories. Two tablespoons of onion dip has 70-80 calories and 6 grams of fat. The same amount of guacamole can contain 50-70 calories and 5 grams of fat. Use lowfat mayonnaise, sour cream or cream cheese to improve these numbers.

Here's a tofu-based spread that is served with bread at Millennium Restaurant. It can also be served as a dip or pate.

MILLENNIUM TOFU SPREAD

1 yellow onion, cut lengthwise into thin crescents
3 whole cloves garlic, peeled
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup dry white wine, nonalcoholic white wine, sherry, or vegetable stock
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
3/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup light vegetable stock or water
12 ounces firm tofu, drained
1/4 cup light miso

In a large sauté pan or skillet, cook the onions, garlic, salt and wine over medium heat until the onions just start to soften, about 5 minutes.

Add the herbs, spices and stock. Cover and cook until the liquid evaporates and the onion and garlic are very soft and light brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Crumble tofu into a medium bowl. Blend in miso and onion mixture. In a food processor, process until smooth. Serve at room temperature or chilled. Makes about 1-1/2 cups

Approximate Nutritional Analysis per 2 Tablespoon serving 65 calories, 2 g total fat, 0.5 g. saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 590 mg sodium*

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Barbara Burke is a Hawaii-Pacific University instructor who has been teaching
and writing about food and nutrition since 1975.

Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S., is a food and nutrition consultant
and owner of Exploring New Concepts, a nutritional consulting firm.
She is also responsible for the nutritional analyses
indicated by an asterisk in this section.

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