Off the shelf: 'Boy Eats World' author doesn't forget mom's dishes

David Lawrence grew up in Carmichael eating egg-salad sandwiches, macaroni salad, fried chicken and snickerdoodles.

For the past 10 years, he's lived in Los Angeles, where his diet has become more worldly, including dishes such as scallops with a Gruyère sauce, grilled Asian skirt steak and pistachio-crusted salmon fillets.

Now, he sets his table with both the old and the new, alternating zucchini bread with cold-poached salmon topped with a salsa of white nectarines.

His bright buffet is his newly published cookbook, "Boy Eats World!: A Private Chef Cooks Simple Gourmet" (Lake Isle Press, $18.95 softcover, 208 pages).

"I think what makes the book different is that it has a little something for everyone," Lawrence said the other day during one of his frequent return visits to Sacramento to promote the book. "It doesn't really have a theme in that it sticks to one particular type of food palate. It's kind of all over the map, which is why I called it 'Boy Eats World.' "

While the recipes Lawrence includes in the book from his Carmichael upbringing are fairly conventional, he credits his mother, Mary, who now lives in Fair Oaks, with expanding his culinary horizons. (His father, Ron, who works for the California Department of Transportation, lives in Elk Grove.)

Lawrence recalls his mother clipping recipes from the newspaper, watching televised cooking shows and reading food magazines, thereby inspiring his interest in various cuisines. "She had a great adventurous spirit," Lawrence said.

He was about 8 years old when he first ventured into the kitchen with more than eating on his mind. His first dish was scrambled eggs with Top Ramen noodles, unwittingly suggesting the global sweep of the book he would publish 25 years later. "It was not a very auspicious beginning, but it's the first thing I remember making."

He left Sacramento in his early 20s to pursue a career in acting in Los Angeles. He wasn't an overnight sensation. Though he'd once played a waiter on a TV show, he didn't find that option appealing in real life.

Because he enjoyed cooking for friends, he sought out a catering company willing to take a gamble on him.

"They threw me an apron and a knife and said, 'Get started.' That was how I learned. You had to keep up or get out. I faked my way through it at first."

Three years ago, he figured he'd learned enough to branch out on his own as a personal chef. He was hired by the first family to interview him, Beverly Hills doctors for whom he does all the menu planning, grocery shopping and party orchestration, as well as preparing dinner five nights a week.

"It's a great job. They take me traveling with them and they give me a lot of freedom to pursue my writing and other things. I'm very blessed," Lawrence said.

"Boy Eats World!" is the second book to feature Lawrence's dishes. He earlier prepared the recipes for Dr. Naomi Neufeld's "KidShape Cafe" (Rutledge Hill Press, $16.99 softcover, 256 pages), a weight-loss cookbook for children published about a year ago.

"I wanted to do a book that had food that kids would really eat, and that parents could get on the table quickly. It's dishes that resemble foods kids like to eat, such as pizza and chicken fingers. It's a healthy spin on childhood favorites," Lawrence said.

The time he spent on "KidShape Cafe" left him with the impression that the prevention of childhood obesity starts with parents and their own wholesome diets.

"I hear a lot of parents complain about finicky eaters, but to be honest with you, I think parents create their own finicky eaters. I tell parents all the time that kids don't always eat things the first five or 10 times you introduce them to something; you have to be consistent with it," Lawrence said.

While the recipes in "Boy Eats World!" tend to emphasize seasonal wholesomeness, Lawrence breaks from many of his fellow California cookbook authors by embracing several processed ingredients, such as liquid smoke in a salsa and instant pudding mix in a pie.

"We all have busy lives, and I wanted to do a book that was realistic for the way people live today. People don't have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen, me included," Lawrence said. "It's OK to take shortcuts. If you use a store-bought pesto sauce or carrots already shredded for you for convenience ... you still can end up with a great product. You're just saving yourself time in the kitchen."

Aside from the section devoted to "childhood favorites," the one dish in the book with a Sacramento connection is "roasted artichokes with sun-dried tomato aioli," inspired by a similar dish he had more than a decade ago at California Cafe at Arden Fair mall.

Encouraged by early reception to "Boy Eats World!" Lawrence is starting to work on a sequel. He's also completed a pilot for a possible TV cooking show based on "Boy Eats World." And he expects to return to Sacramento to give cooking demonstrations at the State Fair, most likely over the Labor Day weekend.

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Aunt Harriett's macaroni salad

Prep time: 25 minutes | Cook time: 30 minutes | Serves 6-8

Ingredients

7 eggs
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
2 1/2 cups dry salad macaroni
2 cups mayonnaise
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1 teaspoon A.1. steak sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 to  3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
1/3 cup sweet pickle juice
4 small sweet pickles, chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley Paprika, for garnish

Instructions

Place the eggs in a medium saucepan and fill with enough cold water to submerge them. Place over high heat and bring the water to a boil. Turn off the heat and cover the saucepan with a tight-fitting lid. Let the eggs stand for exactly 15 minutes. Drain and run cold water over them. Peel and chop 4 eggs; slice the remaining 3. Set aside.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, generously season the water with salt. Add the macaroni and cook al dente, according to package directions.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, mustard, steak sauce, Worcestershire sauce, milk, pickle relish, pickle juice and chopped pickles. The mixture may seem a bit watery, but don't panic; the pasta will absorb it like a sponge.

Drain and rinse the macaroni under cold water. Toss the wet ingredients with the pasta, along with the 4 chopped eggs and 3 tablespoons of the parsley; season with salt and pepper. Smooth the top of the salad, garnish the top with the 3 sliced eggs, the remaining parsley, and several dashes of paprika to give it that retro splash of color.

Per serving, based on 8 servings: 606 cal.; 10 g pro.; 28 g carb.; 49 g fat (8 sat., 2 monounsat., 1 polyunsat., 38 other); 208 mg chol.; 490 mg sod.; 1 g fiber; 3 g sugar; 74 percent calories from fat.

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Baja-style fried fish tacos

Prep time: 45 minutes | Cook time: 2 minutes per batch of fish | Makes 8 tacos

Ingredients

For the chipotle sauce
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1/4 teaspoon chipotle powder, or to taste
For the pico de gallo
3 ripe plum tomatoes, seeded, finely chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped white onion
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded, finely chopped
Freshly squeezed juice of 2 limes
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
For the fish
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
1 cup pale beer
1 pound boned, skinned white fish (cod, catfish, halibut)
Vegetable oil, for frying
16 soft corn tortillas
1/2 head cabbage, shredded
1 lime, cut into wedges

Instructions

To make the chipotle sauce: In a medium bowl, combine the mayonnaise, milk, lime juice and chipotle powder.

To make the pico de gallo: In a medium bowl, combine the tomatoes, onion, cilantro, jalapeño, lime juice, salt and pepper.

To prepare the fish: In a bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and cayenne pepper. Whisk in the beer, blending well and making sure there are no lumps; it should be the consistency of thick pancake batter. Rinse the fish and pat dry. Cut into 2-inch pieces.

Pour 1 inch of vegetable oil into a large, heavy-bottom frying pan or Dutch oven; heat over high heat until the oil reaches 375 degrees on a deep-fry thermometer. Dip the fish pieces in the beer batter and lift out, draining briefly. Gently slide the coated fish into the hot oil, a few pieces at a time. Adjust the heat to maintain oil temperature. Fry until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Remove fish to a paper towel-lined platter using a slotted spoon or Chinese strainer. Continue with the remaining fish pieces.

Warm the tortillas in a preheated 250 degree oven or in the microwave. To assemble the tacos, stack 2 tortillas in your hand. Add a few pieces of fish, some chipotle sauce and pico de gallo, and top with shredded cabbage. Spritz with a squeeze of lime, fold in half and serve.

Per taco, using all the batter, chipotle sauce and pico de gallo: 407 cal.; 16 g pro.; 44 g carb.; 18 g fat (3 sat., 2 monounsat., 4 polyunsat., 9 other); 27 mg chol.; 509 mg sod.; 5 g fiber; 4 g sugar; 40 percent calories from fat.

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Figs with goat cheese and port syrup

Prep time: 25 minutes | Cook time: 10 minutes | Makes 8 stuffed figs

Ingredients

1/2 cup walnuts
1 cup ruby port
6 tablespoons honey
6 ounces soft goat cheese (Montrachet)
8 ripe figs
2 tablespoons lightly chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, for garnish

Instructions

Place the walnuts in a dry sauté pan over medium heat and push them around until they deepen in color and their nutty aroma wafts under your nose. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. In a small saucepan, over medium-high heat, bring the port and honey to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer slowly until reduced by half. Set aside and cool to room temperature; the syrup will thicken considerably upon standing.

Cut the goat cheese into 8 equal pieces, about 2 teaspoons each, and roll each piece into a ball. Place the figs upright on a cutting board and carefully make 4 cross-cuts, being careful not to go all the way through the bottom, slicing each fig into 8 sections. Gently separate the figs outward to form a "flower." Place a ball of goat cheese in the center of each fig and drizzle with the port syrup. Chop the walnuts and sprinkle over the figs; garnish with chopped parsley.

Per stuffed fig: 237 cal.; 6 g pro.; 27 g carb.; 10 g fat (4 sat., 2 monounsat., 4 polyunsat.); 10 mg chol.; 83 mg sod.; 2 g fiber; 24 g sugar; 34 percent calories from fat.

About the writer:

• The Bee's Mike Dunne can be reached at (916) 321-1143 or mdunne@sacbee.com.