a style of French cooking that uses a minimum of fat and starch and emphasizes light sauces and the use of very fresh ingredients, often in unusual combinations prepared simply and served artistically arranged on the plate
See nouvelle cuisine in American Heritage Dictionary 4
(no͞o-vĕlˈ)
noun
A contemporary school of French cooking that seeks to bring out the natural flavors of foods and substitutes light, low-calorie sauces and stocks for the traditional heavy butter-based and cream-based preparations.