I must watch too much TV or something, but when I see an ad for a new food item at one of the chains I have to look it up for nutritional facts. I saw the ad for Olive Gardens' Baked Pasta dish yesterday and here are the facts.
Baked Pasta Romana with Chicken has 1040 calories with 61 grams of fat - 29 grams saturated fat - and 3130 milligrams of sodium! You could split it in half and still be taking in more fat and sodium than you should eat in a day. The same dish with slow cooked beef instead of chicken has 1290 calories with 81 grams of fat - 40 saturated - and 2230 milligrams of sodium. So if you ask for three plates...
While finding those numbers I found some more stuff to expose.
TGI Fridays' Fusion Skewers with the Black Angus Sirloin has 1440 calories with 77 grams of fat - 19 saturated - and 3220 milligrams of sodium.
Applebee's Riblets Platters are from 1590 - 1820 calories with 86 - 87 grams of fat - 29 saturated - and between 4170 and 5630 milligrams of sodium.
These extremely high fat and sodium levels are a symptom of meat that is raised too fast and fed way too much corn that is then frozen and sent to a restaurant where no actual cooking happens - rather an assembly occurs. The stuff has no flavor except for the sweetness the corn feed creates so they need to inject and cover the stuff with sodium and fry it in specially developed oils to impart what flavor it has.
Strangely, that isn't how I cook in my kitchen. I source the best available, local, organic ingredients and cook them as little as possible to preserve the most nutrients. I have rarely had a guest ask for extra salt. Strange huh? I must be doing something wrong if I am totally the reverse of what all those food scientists spent long hours in the lab developing.
Enough about me. Here is an easy and tasty pasta dish that is done in the time it takes to get the water boiling and boil the pasta al dente.
1 large can Organic tomatoes
3 cloves Garlic
1 red onion
2 Tbsp Red Wine vinegar
1 cup sliced Crimini Mushrooms
15 Kalamata Olives
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/4 tsp - a pinch - Red Chili Flakes
3 Tbsp Pesto or 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
Put water in pot for pasta, cover and heat on high. Dice the onion and cook in olive oil on high heat for the time it takes to mince the garlic and slice the mushrooms. Add the mushrooms and garlic to the onions. Saute for 2 minutes and then add the vinegar for a minute then add the tomatoes. Let the tomatoes cook down a couple of minutes. Your water should be boiling by now so add the pasta to the water. Cook the pasta just until al dente - if the package says 9 minutes check it at 6 minutes.
Add the olives and chili flakes to the sauce. When the pasta is done add it to the tomato sauce and stir it around for 2 more minutes. Done!
A little freshly grated Parmesano Reggiano and voila!
More soon....
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