ArcaMax

I’ve been low carb for a long time now. That doesn’t mean I don’t like pasta. Most restaurants just serve too much of it. What you get at most Italian restaurants in the US is a huge portion – dare I say a pile of pasta. Even the International Pasta Association will tell you that a portion of pasta is one cup, cooked. That’s more like it. What I am going to layout here are some of my tricks for making pasta dishes; especially casseroles that are much lower carb than those you’d get in restaurants and also lower than most recipes you’ll find elsewhere.

Hack #1: How to Measure Your Pasta

I don’t follow a recipe portion for pasta. I go by this trick: take out the casserole dish you intend to use and cover the bottom of the casserole with one layer of pasta end to end. Don’t crowd it. So if it’s penne, for example, you are going to cover the bottom of the dish with pasta to measure it. Then cook that as usual. This way, there's enough pasta to satisfy your craving without overloading on carbs.

Hack #2: How to Pick the Best Noodles

When using long noodles, I stay with the thinner ones. There's automatically less pasta volume that way. So, think thin spaghetti, or capellini, or angel hair. More often than not, I will even substitute these noodles in recipes that call for a wider noodle like fettuccini.

Hack #3: Two for One...

Read the full column at PlanZDiet.com

Baked Penne with Italian Sausage, Red Pepper and Broccoli

Easy weeknight meal. Great for curling up and watching a movie. Leftovers can be reheated.

Servings: Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

Approx. 1 cup of dry penne pasta (or another similar noodle)
2 tsp of olive oil
1 lb of loose Italian sausage (I used mild)
1 cup of chopped onion
1/2 cup of diced red bell pepper
1 1/2 cups of broccoli florets cut into small bite-sized pieces
1/4 cup of white wine or water
8 oz of tomato sauce
1 tsp of garlic (jar garlic will work)
3 oz of tomato paste
2 cups of shredded mozzarella

Instructions:

Heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Take out your nine inch square oven-proof casserole dish. Pour enough pasta into the bottom of the dish to loosely cover the bottom. It will be about a cup of pasta. Heat your water to boiling in a pasta pot or medium saucepan. Pour the pasta into the boiling water and cook it according to package directions. Drain and put it back into the casserole dish.

While the pasta is cooking you can make the rest of the dish. Use a large saute pan and heat the olive oil on medium-high. Put in the Italian sausage and break it up to cook it. Keep breaking it up while it browns so you end up with bite-sized pieces. You’ll want to cook it until no pink remains. When it’s about halfway cooked, you can add the onion, red pepper, and broccoli bits. They will partially cook while the meat finishes up.

When the meat is ready you can add the wine, tomato sauce, garlic, and tomato paste. Stir that all up so it thoroughly mixes in with the meat. Then pour the meat mixture over the pasta and stir again to mix the pasta with the meat mixture. You can do that right in the casserole dish. Or you can stir the pasta into the meat mixture and transfer the whole thing back into the casserole dish. Whichever is easier for you.

Top with the grated mozzarella and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until the cheese is all melted. I serve this in bowls so you can hold your bowl and eat while you watch the movie but it’s up to you. Leftovers taste great too. Just reheat.

Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola