Pasta al Forno

Name: Pasta al Forno
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: Dried pasta; Beef mince; Pork mince; Olive oil; Onion; Celery; Carrot; Garlic; Red wine; Tomato puree; Tinned plum tomatoes; Beef stock; Unsalted butter; Plain flour; Semi-skimmed milk; Nutmeg; Mozzarella; Parmesan; Black pepper

721 kcal a serving, against 1072 for the traditional version. That is 351 kcal off, or 33%, with 48.4g of protein. Serves 8. 1 hour 30 minutes.

What the traditional version is

A colossal tray of dried short pasta tossed with a fatty beef and sausage ragu, folded through a heavy whole milk bechamel, topped with handfuls of mozzarella and baked until it blisters. It's glorious, but the calories per portion is staggering.

What changed, and what each change costs

15% fat beef mince and Italian sausage swapped for 5% fat beef and lean pork mince

The original meats leak huge amounts of fat into the sauce. Switching to lean mince drops the calories massively while keeping the protein high. It's the easiest win on the plate.

What it costs you. Lean meat lacks the deep, savoury punch of fatty pork. You have to brown it properly and rely on herbs, wine and tomatoes for the heavy lifting. You can't just boil it in its own juices.

80g of butter and whole milk dropped to 20g of butter and semi-skimmed milk

Traditional bechamel is a calorie bomb that inflates the fat content of the whole dish. Semi-skimmed milk and a quarter of the butter fix the macros instantly.

What it costs you. It isn't as rich, and it lacks that velvet texture. To fix the flavour, I toast the plain flour in the dry pan before adding the butter. It brings back a nutty depth that you lose with the fat, but the texture remains thinner.

800g of dried pasta cut down to 600g

A massive traybake doesn't need 100g of pasta per person when there's this much meat and cheese involved.

What it costs you. The final slice is meatier and saucier. If you want a solid block of starch, you'll miss the extra pasta, but honestly, it eats better this way.

What goes in it

The ingredients, without the quantities. The weights are what the figures below are computed from, and they are in the book.

Dried pasta
Beef mince
Pork mince
Olive oil
Onion
Celery
Carrot
Garlic
Red wine
Tomato puree
Tinned plum tomatoes
Beef stock
Unsalted butter
Plain flour
Semi-skimmed milk
Nutmeg
Mozzarella
Parmesan
Black pepper

How it starts

Heat a large pan over a medium heat.
Turn the heat up and add the lean beef and pork mince.
Pour in the wine and scrape the bottom of the pan to lift up the brown bits.

The rest of the method, and every weight, is in Authentic-ish Italian.

The numbers

Per serving	Traditional	Lightened
Calories	1072	721
Protein	47.8g	48.4g
Fat	50.2g	21.3g
Saturated fat	22.5g	10.7g
Carbohydrate	102.3g	78.8g
Protein per 100 kcal	4.5g	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. How every number is computed sets out the method.

Allergens. gluten, milk, celery, sulphites.

The method is in the book

This works brilliantly. The toasted flour trick saves the bechamel, and the lean mince makes a ragu that tastes deeply savoury without swimming in oil. You still get the incredible baked cheese crust, but the protein for the calories is vastly higher.

The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Italian, along with 59 more. Buy the paperback