Enola Prudhomme's Low-Calorie Cajun Cooking

From Publishers Weekly Pair the Prudhomme name with the promise of low-calorie preparations for popular Cajun recipes, and it seems a formula for success. However, the author (sister of celebrity chef Paul Prudhomme) delivers not the Cajun-inspired concoctions of her classically trained sibling but the home-cooked variety of South Louisiana cooking that she serves in her own bayou-country restaurant in the town of Carencro. While she contributes some interesting concepts to the burgeoning literature of low-fat fare, touting the "good unleaded meal," her recipes are less alluring than the sophisticated stuff of Paul. The best include a credible variety of flavorful salad dressings (green-onion dressing is particularly tangy and original) and versions of blackened catfish, spicy crawfish etouffee and shrimp creole. Unfortunately, the book is slim on preparation methods. Prudhomme's style is charmingly sincere. Advertising; author tour. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal Low-calorie Cajun cooking seems like a contradiction in terms, but these diet dishes are as assertive and robust as the real things. Prudhomme--Paul's sister--runs her own restaurant in rural Louisiana; when faced with dieting, she developed a low-calorie, low-cholesterol version of Cajun cuisine. Purists may blanch at some of the ingredients she has substituted for all that butter and fat, but her spicy, highly seasoned dishes provide a mouth-watering contrast to the overly genteel spa cuisine so popular now. Recommended.Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.