Cook This: 3 recipes from Health Nut, including mushroom ‘carnitas’ tacos

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Our cookbook of the week is Health Nut by recipe developer and food stylist Jess Damuck.

Jump to the recipes: tomato and melon gazpacho, Planet Bliss mesclun salad with fried tofu croutons and mushroom “carnitas” tacos with citrusy radish slaw.

Health Nut feels like a welcome blast from the past. I didn’t know it then, but the whole-wheat pitas stuffed with cream cheese, sliced cucumber and alfalfa sprouts I used to buy from the local health food store in B.C. as a teenager in the 1990s had roots in Southern California. As author Jess Damuck writes in her second solo cookbook, until the ’70s, only Southern Californians ate alfalfa sprouts.

Some people shudder when they hear the phrases “hippie food” or “health food,” says Damuck, but many others, like her, love to eat this way. There’s an appreciation for the food and a wistfulness for a bygone era. “I am not a nutritionist. I am not a wellness influencer. I am just a classically French-trained chef who has a nostalgia for the sticky-shelved health food stores that are becoming increasingly hard to find,” she writes.

Damuck has been busy since her debut cookbook, Salad Freak, came out in 2022. The Los Angeles-based recipe developer and food stylist worked with Martha Stewart for more than a decade (and was her personal salad chef). Another high-profile collaboration, Open Wide, which she wrote with record producer and songwriter Benny Blanco, coincided with Health Nut. Both books were published this spring.

“It’s always fun to work with musicians, but I can say that it’s not easy to get information about food out of a musician’s head,” says Damuck, laughing. “That was a challenge that I sort of expected. Up until the last day of development, Benny asked me, ‘Do we have to use the measuring spoons today?’ But it was fun. It was a busy year, but I’m really happy with how both books came out.”

Damuck initially planned for her second cookbook to be about vegetables. The deeper she got with Blanco and Open Wide’s “over-the-top dinner party menus,” her focus shifted. “It’s a lot of macaroni and cheese and fried chicken. The heavier his book became, I was like, ‘No, I just want to make a book about what I’m actually craving when I go home from Benny’s house,’ which is these grain bowls. This sort of hippie comfort food. Stuff that’s easy but really nourishing and doesn’t use every bowl and pot and pan in my kitchen.”

Since Damuck was not just developing recipes and writing but creative directing Health Nut and Open Wide simultaneously, she wanted to make sure the look and feel of the books were as different as the content. Bringing together a team she had worked with for many years at Martha Stewart, they infused as much of Blanco’s personality as possible into Open Wide and did the same for Health Nut. Photographers Linda Pugliese and Roger Steffens — “a legendary photographer here in L.A., who’s been capturing California counterculture since the ’60s” — shot Health Nut at the home Damuck shares with her partner, actor and writer Ben Sinclair (co-creator and star of HBO’s High Maintenance), and she used as many props from her own kitchen as possible.

Damuck has a massive collection of books from the 1970s, which she turned to for visual inspiration to make Health Nut look familiar but fresh. “I wanted it to feel like something that’s been in your kitchen all along.” Damuck’s friend Rob Carmichael, who usually designs album artwork, designed Health Nut. “It was fun to bring in somebody from the music world to work on this.”

In addition to Health Nut’s more than 100 recipes, Damuck shares a piece of California history. Trendy Erewhon Market and its $20 smoothies didn’t materialize out of thin air — decades of Californians set the stage for what’s become a trademark style of eating. “I’ve been so inspired by Los Angeles and California since I moved here (from New York City). There are so many special people who started the health food movement out here who are in their 80s, and I wanted to make sure that the story was told.”

One of the first books Damuck found when she was researching Health Nut that helped point her in the right direction was Bare Feet and Good Things to Eat (1965) by Gypsy Boots, one of California’s “original ‘Nature Boys.’” Born Robert Bootzin, Gypsy Boots was a health food and fitness pioneer, a “hippie philosopher” and one of the inspirations for Nat King Cole’s 1948 hit, Nature Boy.

In the early 1960s, he sold date bars and fresh juices at his health food store, Health Hut, in Beverly Hills. “People were eating TV dinners, and it was the beginning of processed foods. Even though California has always had this incredible bounty of produce, it just wasn’t the way people were eating,” says Damuck. “It was fun to find out more about these pioneers like Gypsy Boots and Jim Baker, Father Yod from The Source Family, and learning how this thing that we think of as so obvious now really was radical back then.”

In some ways, Health Nut was like coming full circle. Damuck grew up in Shelter Island, New York, where local, seasonal food was on the high school curriculum. Her first restaurant job was making juice at Planet Bliss during the summers. The following recipe for mesclun salad with fried tofu croutons was a staple there, and it’s the first salad she remembers craving.

After studying pre-med at the University of Vermont, Damuck moved to New York, where she attended the French Culinary Institute. She started eating meat again to learn how to cook it, which was “a little conflicting,” but her education helped refine her skills. Working with Martha Stewart, Damuck’s cooking “became a little less hippie and a little more elegant, but the principles were the same — the absolute freshest ingredients without any junk made for the most delicious food.”

Health Nut acknowledges that healthy eating can mean different things to different people. Damuck’s take is refreshingly simple: Food made primarily with plants and other whole ingredients, with light use of oil and very few processed items you would buy in a package.

“This definitely isn’t a diet book. There’s no fads or anything,” says Damuck. “You can serve it at a dinner party, and people will go home and not feel sluggish and too full. There should never be guilt associated with food, but it just feels good to eat. That’s the message that I’m trying to spread with this book.”

Serves: 4 to 6 as a light meal or starter

Produce: 1 small (about 6 lb/2.7 kg) seedless red watermelon 2 big fat juicy red heirloom tomatoes 1 English cucumber 2 tbsp pickled sliced Fresno chiles (see note), or more to taste Coriander blossoms, basil, or just some pretty cilantro, for serving

Pantry: Kosher salt 1/3 cup (75 mL) really good extra-virgin olive oil

Prep the produce: Remove the rind from a 6-pound (2.7 kg) watermelon and cut the melon into 2-inch (5 cm) cubes. You should have about 3 cups (450 g) melon cubes. Core 2 big heirloom tomatoes and remove the seeds. Peel 1 English cucumber and cut into 2-inch (5 cm) pieces.

Blend and chill: Put the watermelon, tomatoes, cucumber and 2 tablespoons pickled Fresno chile slices into a blender and blend until velvety smooth. Taste for seasoning and salt as needed. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or up to overnight.

Garnish and serve: Add a swirl of oil on the gazpacho and top with cilantro, basil or edible flowers, then enjoy immediately.

Note: If you don’t have pickled Fresno chilies ready to go, substitute fresh Fresno chilies and add some apple cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the desired tanginess is reached. No Fresno chilies? Jalapeños or serranos are fine, but the Fresno has a special fruitiness that’s worth seeking out.

Serves: 2 to 4 as a light meal or side

Produce: 1/4 head red cabbage (about 12 oz/160 g) 5 oz (142 g) mesclun mix

Protein: 1 (14-oz/397 g) block extra-firm tofu

Pantry: 1 tsp Dijon mustard 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar 1/2 tsp honey 1 tbsp mayonnaise Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 tbsp smoked soy sauce, or regular soy sauce and 1/2 tsp smoked paprika 2 tbsp (15 g) cornstarch Neutral oil, such as sunflower or avocado 1 cup (160 g) walnuts, toasted (see note)

Make the balsamic vinaigrette: In a large bowl, whisk together 1 teaspoon Dijon, 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon honey and 1 tablespoon mayonnaise. Set aside (you’ll mix the salad in later!).

Prep the tofu: Press 1 14-ounce (397 g) block tofu using a tofu press or cut the tofu lengthwise into 5 pieces and press using paper towels or clean dish towels and a heavy pan. Once some of the moisture has been released, cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm) pieces. Season with a bit of salt and 2 tablespoons smoked soy sauce (or regular soy and 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika). Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons cornstarch.

Fry the tofu: Heat 3 cups (750 mL) neutral oil over medium-high in a wok or deep-sided skillet, to 350F (175C) if you have an instant-read thermometer. Add a piece of tofu, and once it is sizzling, carefully add the rest. Cook in two batches, until golden brown and crispy on all sides, 5 to 7 minutes. Let drain on a paper towel-lined plate.

Make the cabbage: Use a mandoline or a knife to very thinly shave 1/4 head red cabbage. Heat a skillet over medium-high and add a bit of neutral oil. Sauté the cabbage until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Assemble and serve: Add 5 ounces (140 g) mesclun mix, the cabbage, and walnuts to the bowl with the vinaigrette and toss. Top with the tofu and serve.

Note: Nuts should always be toasted. Set your oven to 425F (220C) and toast until golden and fragrant, 6 to 10 minutes. Make sure you set a timer. No one ever remembers to check on their nuts until they are already burning; it’s just a fact.

Makes: 12 tacos

Produce: 2 oranges 1 lb (454 g) lion’s mane mushrooms (see note) 1/2 head red cabbage 2 radishes 2 limes 1 bunch fresh cilantro 1 avocado

Pantry: 1 tbsp vegetable or coconut oil 2 chipotles in adobo 1 tbsp smoked soy sauce or 1 tsp smoked paprika 1 tsp garlic powder Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 tbsp mayonnaise 12 corn tortillas

Preheat the oven to 425F (220C).

Marinate the mushrooms: Juice 1 1/2 oranges (to obtain about 1/2 cup/118 mL juice) into a large bowl. Add 1 tablespoon oil. Finely chop 2 chipotles in adobo and add them to the bowl. Whisk in 1 tablespoon smoked soy sauce, 1 teaspoon garlic powder and season generously with salt and pepper. Pull apart 1 pound (454 g) lion’s mane mushrooms into bite-size pieces and place them in the bowl. Toss them with the marinade until it is fully absorbed.

Cook the mushrooms: Spread the mushrooms onto a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until all the liquid is absorbed and the mushrooms are a deep golden brown and really crispy around the edges, 25 to 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the slaw: Using a mandoline, thinly shave 1/2 head red cabbage (the shavings should be about the thickness of two or three coins stacked together), add the shavings to a large bowl, and sprinkle with salt. Shave 2 radishes into the bowl. Squeeze the remaining 1/2 orange into the bowl, the juice from 1 lime and 1 tablespoon mayonnaise. Remove the leaves from 1 bunch cilantro, give them a little chop, and toss everything together.

Char the tortillas: Using tongs, set 1 tortilla at a time directly over the flame of a gas burner or place in a cast-iron skillet over high heat. Cook until well charred in spots on both sides, about 1 minute per side. Wrap in a clean towel until ready to serve.

Assemble and serve: Slice the avocado.

Fill the tortillas with mushrooms and top with the slaw and sliced avocado. Serve with lime wedges.

Note: If you can’t find lion’s mane mushrooms, use any other type, such as oyster, cremini or shiitake. (You can also grow your own using a kit.)

Recipes and images excerpted from Health Nut by Jess Damuck (Abrams). Copyright ©2024 by Jess Damuck.

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