Chef Benny Doro

PASTA , PORTIONS and INGREDIENTS
Response to Shawn questions about pasta
by Chef Benny Doro on Sunday, February 20, 2011 at 7:39pm

Shawn Nettnay:

“Hey Benny, my wife wanted me to ask you. She had gastric bypass back last march and was told to stay away from pasta. She loves pasta but knows it would do her more harm than good. Do you know of any pasta that would possibly be ok for her? I know the wheat pasta is good, but something fairly light and won't sit heavy on her stomach. Thanks my friend”

Response:

Shawn, you know it is really about quality and quantity .First off all I am going to probably piss a lot of people off here but a lot of the issues are with how these what would normally be HEALTHY dishes are completely bastardized by corporate America restaurants. Pizza in Italy is a thin homemade crust that has fresh tomato sauce on it and a few piece of fresh mozzarella or ricotta cheese and fresh basil. That pizza clocks in around 350-400 calories and has no bad fats and count the ingredients: flour, yeast, water, olive oil, tomatoes, basil and milk. Take a slice of Papa John’s meat lovers pizza and forget it once slice is over 500 calories 40 grams of fat with 7 toppings of really bad fatty processed meats and worse with the cheese. The dough has over 12 ingredients what the hell is in there and if that’s not bad enough and your just don’t have enough of their garbage cheese you can get it stuff in the crust as well?!

Pasta, well you have to love a meat, cheese laden brick of lasagna from your local Italian American restaurant that has more empty calories and bad fats than a double cheeseburger at McDonalds. I have spent plenty of time in Italy and I have never seen this kind of dish ever. Let’s talk portion size here, in Italy Pasta is the second course, it is usually a small bowl of fresh made pasta with some fantastic tomato sauce finished with some fresh grated parmesan cheese and a drizzle of olive oil It tastes amazing and is around  a fist size portion. Order the pasta with meat sauce baked from Pizza Hut and you’re looking at 1500 calories and 80 grams of fat with half the calories from FAT! There is no such thing as pasta and meatballs in Italy, either one or the other. The point here is that you  can have pasta, you can have meat, you can have desserts but it’s what it is made of and the portion size that is going to KILL YOU. There is a big difference from an large Italian person who is big from eating  good ingredients and too much of it and someone who is overweight from eating CRAP and Chemicals. I will re post some healthy versions of some of your favorite pizza and pasta dishes that won’t send you to the grave anytime soon.

Here are some links to healthy Pasta Dishes:

Spaghetti Pomodoro
Scallops and Angel hair Pasta
Pasta and Prawns
Grilled Pizza Margarita

Benny

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