Omega-3 Cuisine offers a tasty way to incorporate essential fats of the highest quality into your diet, so you won't have to wonder if you're getting enough. Here is a sampling of the recipes you'll find in the book:

Corn Soup with Roasted Peppers

Makes about 10 cups
Most people will swear there is cream in this soup, although there isn't even any milk. Even hard-core meat eaters will enjoy this. Kids love it.

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
10 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
8 cups vegetable broth
8 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels
1 roasted and peeled red pepper, finely diced
1 roasted and peeled green pepper, finely diced
1/4 cup Udo's Oil
4 scallions, finely sliced

Heat the olive oil in a heavy pan over a moderate flame. Add the onions and garlic, stir and reduce the flame to low. Cover the pot and allow the vegetables to sweat until very soft and aromatic. Add the broth, increase the heat and bring to a boil. Add the corn and bring to a simmer. Cover the pot, adjust the flame to keep a steady low simmer, and cook until very tender, about 30 minutes. Scoop out about 1 1/2 cups of the corn with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Working in small batches, puree the soup in a blender and strain, discarding the tough skins. Return to the pot and add the reserved corn, along with the diced peppers. If the soup is too thick, add a little broth. Just before serving, turn off the heat and stir in the Udo's Oil and scallions. Ladle into soup bowls and serve at once.
Note: For a more elegant presentation, fill a parchment cornet with Scallion Udo's Oil and pipe two thin, concentric circles on the surface of the soup, then draw a toothpick back and forth through them to form a decorative flourish.

Quinoa Pilaf

Serves 6 to 8
This is a delicious dish, providing a complete protein, a varied complement of vegetables and all your essential fatty acids all in one shot. The carrot juice adds both color and a delicious sweetness, but if you prefer, feel free to substitute with vegetable broth. Either way, this is a crowd pleaser.

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, diced
4 stalks celery, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 yellow pepper, diced
1 red pepper, diced
2 bunches scallions, sliced
2 zucchini, diced
2 carrots, grated
1 cup quinoa, well washed and drained
2 cups carrot juice
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup Udo's Oil
1/4 cup chopped parsley

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy pot and add the onion, celery and garlic, stirring constantly. As soon as the mixture heats up, add the peppers and continue stirring. When mixture has heated through (but is not sizzling), add half the scallions, the remaining vegetables and quinoa. Stir well and then add the carrot juice, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, adjust the heat to medium, cover and cook about 15 minutes, or until the juice has been absorbed and the quinoa is tender. Remove from the heat, stir in the remaining scallions and Udo's Oil.
Serve at once, generously garnished with the chopped parsley.

Green Tapenade

Makes about 2 cups
There are probably as many versions of tapenade as there are cooks in Provence. Here is an alternative to the usual dark olive one, made with green olives. Technically, you can call any condiment tapenade, as long as it has capers in it (from "tapeno", the word for caper in the Provençal dialect), but you're probably safest if there are olives in it too. Be sure to use the right olives--picholine, Sicilian, or Tuscan work well (not American pitted green olives!).




1 cup Italian or French green olives, pitted
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
1/4 cup rinsed capers
1/4 cup Simple Garlic Udo's Oil
1 hard-boiled egg, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper




Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until well mixed, but still slightly chunky. It should have a spreadable consistency, with an interesting texture. Scrape into a non-reactive bowl, preferably glass. Use immediately, or refrigerate until needed. Before serving, bring to room temperature again for best flavor.

Simple Garlic Udo's Oil

Makes about 1 cup
What could be easier? If you like garlic, this will immediately become a staple in your kitchen. It's the quickest and easiest oil infusion, requiring no straining, decanting or any other monkeying around. Properly steamed vegetables really need nothing else. Merely drizzle some of this oil on them, and you have something anyone can eat with pleasure. It'll make pedestrian mashed potatoes into something truly special. Keep some of this on hand in your refrigerator and you'll discover many uses for it. It's a standard ingredient in many of the recipes in this book.

4 to 7 cloves garlic (see note)
1 cup Udo's Oil

Pass the garlic cloves through a garlic press into a small jar. Add the oil and stir. Pour into a glass jar or bottle and refrigerate until ready to use.
Note: You may prefer to use less than 4 or more than 7 cloves garlic, according to your taste.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

Makes about 1 1/2 cups
This is an excellent "every day" salad dressing. Work with the proportion of vinegar to oil to achieve an acidity balance that's agreeable to your palate. It keeps for the life of the Udo's Oil, so make up a big batch and store it in a dark glass bottle in the refrigerator. That way, you'll always have a delicious salad dressing on hand, and no excuse to miss eating salad every day.





1/2 cup aged balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup Udo's Oil
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil




Put everything except the oils into a blender and process until smooth. With the blender running, slowly pour in the oils. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.
Note: If you like, omit the garlic for a milder vinaigrette. You can also make this with all Udo's Oil, if you prefer.

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Makes about 2 cups
You'll find this a very useful and versatile sauce to have around. Even a small amount in a soup can alter the taste significantly. It stands well on its own, but added to other sauces, it will pull the flavor in a distinct red pepper direction, enriching as it adds an exotic twist. Note that the oil is added at the end, to protect the fragile essential fats.

4 red peppers
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne (optional)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup Udo's Oil

Cut the peppers in quarters; trim away the stem, membranes and seeds. Lay out on a baking sheet, skin side up and roast under a broiler until the skins are blackened. Immediately place the peppers in a small bowl, cover and let rest for at least 15 minutes. Remove the skins, which should come off easily. Put the peppers, garlic and seasonings into a blender and process to a smooth puree. If you need to reheat the sauce, do this first. Remove the sauce from the heat and then whisk in the oil.
Note: If you plan to make this ahead, postpone the last step and add the oil only after removing the sauce from the heat. This sauce will keep up to two weeks in the refrigerator.

Apple and Fennel Salad with Saint Agûr

Serves 4
The combination of blue cheeses with apples or pears is a time-tested delicious one. Saint Agûr, a French blue cheese similar to the Italian Gorgonzola, is unsurpassed for this particular pairing. It has a unique composition of creamy, sweet, acidic and pungent qualities that blend beautifully with the fresh taste of a crisp green apple. In this salad, fennel and pecans add additional layers of texture and taste complexity. The dressing is pure simplicity, allowing the main characters to assert themselves fully.



2 large fennel bulbs
2 large Granny Smith apples
2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 tablespoons Udo's Oil
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 cups mixed baby romaine leaves
4 thick slices Saint Agûr cheese (or Gorgonzola),
about 1-2 ounces each
1/4 cup lightly crushed pecans, for garnish
2 tablespoons snipped chives, for garnish


Cut the fennel in half lengthwise, carve out the tough inner core and slice thinly across the grain. Cut the apples into quarters, peel, and remove the seeds and stems. Slice the quarters crosswise, a little thinner than 1/4 inch. Whisk the lemon juice, oil, salt and pepper together and toss with the apple and fennel. Divide the lettuce leaves between four plates. Toss the salad again and place a mound on each bed of lettuce. Rest a slice of Saint Agûr against one side of the salad and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of pecans over it. Sprinkle the dish with the snipped chives and serve.

Spicy Chocolate-Orange Truffles

Makes about 30 truffles
I got the idea of combining chiles with chocolate from the film Chocolat. Having grown up in Mexico, this should have happened sooner--I had used them together in savory dishes, but for some reason it didn't occur to me to do this in sweets. Well, that's over-now I use this combination as often as possible, in as many ways as possible. Once you try it, it won't even seem odd to you. The other spices give the truffles a decidedly exotic background; the orange rounds it all out and brings everything together.

Ganache
8 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup water
1 teaspoon crushed cardamom seeds
1 teaspoon cayenne
2 bay leaves
12 whole black peppercorns
1/4 cup Udo's Oil
1 teaspoon very finely grated orange zest

Chocolate Coating
1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa
(preferably Cacao Barry Extra Brut or Valrhona)
6 ounces dark chocolate, chopped

To make the ganache, melt the chocolate in a steel bowl set over hot (not boiling) water, stirring occasionally. While the chocolate is melting, bring the water, cardamom, cayenne, bay leaves, and peppercorns to a boil in a small saucepan. Lower the heat slightly and cook for about 5 minutes, or until reduced to about 3/4 cup. Strain through a very fine mesh sieve to remove all the tiny bits. Once the chocolate has melted, reheat the water and whisk it into the chocolate, 1 tablespoon at a time. It will seize up at first, but keep whisking and adding the water until it becomes smooth and creamy. Whisk in the oil and orange zest. Cover the bowl and place it in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours, until firm enough to handle. Line a tray with parchment or waxed paper. Scoop out 1/2 tablespoon of the chilled ganache for each truffle, form into balls, and place on the tray. Refrigerate until well chilled and firm.

To make the chocolate coating, line a large tray with parchment or waxed paper. Sift the cocoa evenly over the tray and set aside. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the chocolate and melt the remainder in a steel bowl set over hot (not boiling) water. As soon as the chocolate has melted, remove it from the hot water bath and stir in the 2 tablespoons reserved chocolate. When the chocolate is smooth, remove the ganache balls from the refrigerator.

One by one, dip the ganache balls into the melted chocolate, rolling them between your fingers to coat evenly. Allow the excess to drip back into the bowl and place the coated balls on the tray. Once the chocolate coating has begun to harden, shake the tray gently back and forth to roll the balls in the cocoa, coating them evenly all over. When the coating has fully hardened, lift the truffles off the tray and place them in a container with an airtight lid. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Refrigerated, truffles will keep for about 2 weeks (Uh-huh.) Frozen, they will keep for up to 2 months (if you live alone, maybe). Remove the quantity you want to serve from the refrigerator at least 20 minutes ahead of time to allow the truffles to come to room temperature.