hungry poodle

I remember reading once that Oprah Winfrey turned to macaroni and cheese when she received bad reviews for a film she produced. The inference was that mac and cheese was partially responsible for her weight gain because it was hopelessly rich.

Who can blame her? Mac and cheese, when made the traditional way, is a creamy and delicious comfort food with a calorie knock-out punch.  Cooks Illustrated experimented with reduced-fat versions and came up with this one as the best compromise–about half the calories of regular but almost all of the rich creamy flavor and texture.

I used a white cheddar, which is why this is so light in color.

1/2 lb. elbow macaroni (about 2 cups)*
1 (12-oz.) can reduced-fat evaporated milk
3/4 cup 2% milk
1/4 t. dry mustard
1/8 t. garlic powder or celery salt (optional)
Pinch of cayenne pepper
2. t. cornstarch
8 oz. 50% light cheddar cheese, grated, (about 2 cups)**

Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan. Stir in 2 t. salt and macaroni and cook until pasta is completely cooked. (You don’t want it al dente.) Drain pasta and leave it in colander.

In the now empty pan, add the evaporated milk, 1/2 cup of the 2% milk, mustard, garlic powder, cayenne and 1/2 t. salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Whisk cornstarch into remaining 1/4 cup milk and whisk into simmering mixture. Continue to simmer, whisking constantly, until the sauce is thickened and smooth, about 2 minutes.

Remove from heat and gradually whisk in the grated cheddar cheese until melted and smooth. Stir in the cooked macaroni and let the mac and cheese sit off the heat until it is thickened slightly, about 2 to 5 minutes, before serving.

*I used Barilla Piccolini (Mini-penne), just for fun. Use whatever small pasta you like.

**Cooks Illustrated highly recommends Cabot 50% Reduced Fat Cheddar cheese, which is available in 8-ounce blocks. Do not use pre-shredded cheese. Cabot makes this cheese in both white and orange. I used the white.

Note: The first time I made this, I poured the mixture into a sprayed gratin dish, topped it with dry bread crumbs and a bit of leftover shredded cheese and ran it under the broiler until the top was browned.

Serves: 5

Note that the calories for traditional macaroni and cheese have been reduced from 650 calories per serving to 360 calories. Total fat grams have gone from 40 to 10. In this case, you don’t get what you pay for, you get more (or less, depending on how you look at it!)

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In 1992 the makers of Newman’s Own Sauces staged a contest for the best recipe made with a Newman’s Own product. The judge? Paul Newman, who sampled the seven finalists’ entries in a New York restaurant with a napkin tucked under his chin. First prize was a $50,000 donation to the winner’s favorite charity and a kiss from Mr. Newman. Fortunately the winner was a woman.

Her entry was a meatless lasagna using Newman’s Own Marinara Sauce with Mushrooms and filled with vegetables that cooked along with the noodles in the pasta water. Easy, delicious, and healthy too. I hadn’t made it in years, but then one day recently as I was looking through cookbooks for interesting recipe ideas, something tweaked my memory and this lasagna came to mind. I immediately phoned Rita, my mother’s next-door neighbor in Sacramento and the cook who introduced it to me way back when. She emailed me the recipe that day. I love the Internet.

Isn’t it funny how you can own loads of wonderful cookbooks and yet when you want something good to eat, it’s often a dish you remember from years past that came from a friend? Actually, I’m glad our memories work that way. Besides, how could one forget a recipe that won $50,000?

Lasagna Primavera

1 8-oz. package lasagna noodles
3 carrots, sliced 1/4″ thick
1 cup broccoli florets
1 cup zucchini, cut into 1/4″ slices
1 cup crookneck squash, cut into 1/4″ slices
2 10-oz. packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
8 oz. ricotta cheese (I used low fat)
*1 26 oz. jar Newman’s Own Marinara Sauce with Mushrooms
12 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

* I use Bertolli Tomato-Basil sauce. It has no added sugar and isn’t as sweet as other major brands.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add lasagna noodles and cook 5 minutes. Add carrots and cook 2 more minutes. Add broccoli, zucchini and crookneck squash and cook the final 2 minutes or until pasta is almost tender. Drain all in a large colander and separate out the noodles.

Squeeze liquid out of spinach. Combine spinach with ricotta cheese. In a 3-quart rectangular baking pan, spread 1/3 of the pasta sauce. Line pan with 3 or 4 lasagna noodles. Top with half of each of the vegetables, half of the spinach mixture and half of the mozzarella cheese. Pour half of the remaining pasta sauce over these layers. Repeat layers and top with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Place on a 10″x15″ baking sheet which has been lined with foil. Bake uncovered in a 400°F oven approx. 30 minutes or until hot in the center. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. (Lasagna may be prepared up to 2 days in advance and kept covered in the refrigerator until 1 hour before baking. If cold, bake for 1 hour at 350°F.)

Note: I find that a 26-oz. jar of pasta sauce is just enough to cover the lasagna. When reheating this, I sometimes open another jar of pasta sauce, heat it up and pour a little over the top of each serving.

Serves: 8

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