Italian · Authentic-ish Italian
Lasagne alla Bolognese
469 kcal a serving, against 648 for the traditional version. That is 179 kcal off, or 28%, with 31.6g of protein. Serves 8. 4 hours, most of it the ragu.
What the traditional version is
Ragu made the long way, a bechamel of equal butter and flour cooked out in whole milk, egg pasta sheets, and Parmesan between every layer. Baked for 40 minutes and rested before cutting.
What changed, and what each change costs
Bechamel made with 80g of butter becomes bechamel made with 20g
80g of butter is 574 kcal doing a job that flour and milk can mostly do alone. Cook the flour out properly in a dry pan first and you keep the nutty flavour that the butter was there to provide.
What it costs you. Slightly less silky on the tongue, and it sets a bit firmer when it cools. In a baked dish with ragu and cheese over it, this is the swap nobody has ever picked up on when I've served it.
Whole milk to semi-skimmed in the bechamel
A litre of whole milk is 610 kcal against 500 for semi-skimmed, for a sauce that is already being thickened with flour.
What it costs you. Genuinely marginal. Skimmed is a step too far and goes watery, so stop at semi.
15% beef mince down to 5%, and half the pancetta
Same reasoning as the ragu on its own. Long cooking is what makes lean mince work, and lasagne ragu gets even longer than usual.
What it costs you. Brown it in batches or it goes grainy. That's the whole cost, and it's a technique problem rather than a flavour one.
150g of Parmesan down to 90g, all of it on top
Parmesan between every layer disappears into the bechamel and you taste almost none of it. On top it browns, crisps and is the first thing you taste.
What it costs you. The middle layers are less savoury, so salt the bechamel harder than you think and grate a little nutmeg into it.
The numbers
| Per serving | Traditional | Lightened |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 648 | 469 |
| Protein | 32.7g | 31.6g |
| Fat | 35.5g | 15.2g |
| Saturated fat | 16.1g | 7.1g |
| Carbohydrate | 43.4g | 45.4g |
| Protein per 100 kcal | 5.1g | 6.7g |
Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Italian prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked.
Allergens. milk, celery, gluten, sulphites.
The method is in the book
This one comes out better than I expected, and the low-butter bechamel is a technique I now use everywhere. It's still not a light dinner. It's a lighter version of a heavy dinner, which is a different claim and the one I'm making.
The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Italian, along with 59 more. It is not out yet. The swap kit is free in the meantime.