Shirtless Chef – Italy – Where the buffalo roam?

Local fitness enthusiast Jason Murphy remakes favorite meals of his youth into healthy dishes. See the full list of his recipes at www.mysaline.com/shirtless.

Bolognese is one of those “heavy belly” dishes. You know the kind, it’s hearty and tastes great, and you overeat and then it feels like you have a bag of Quickkrete setting up in your stomach for the next hour or two. It wasn’t a dish that was even on my healthy lifestyle radar, but then I caught a show of Giada at home with Giada De Laurentiis on the Cooking channel. That series takes traditional Italian dishes and lightens up the calories and carbs/fats, and on this one she used ground bison in place of beef. Bison is leaner than beef with less fat and calories, and when you brown it, the amount of grease to drain is miniscule. It inspired me to make my own version, but I had to take it a step farther by swapping out traditional pasta with Heart of Palm lasagna sheets cut into strips. That reduces the simple carb count and calorie count dramatically and brings it into the Shirtless Chef domain. You can find heart of palm lasagna noodles on the pasta aisle at most mega-marts these days in the specialty section. The noodles are in a pouch, but the “lasagna” sheets will usually be in a can.

If you want to make the heart of palm noodles have more of a neutral taste, drain and rinse, and then soak in milk or half and half for 30 minutes in the fridge. Before you are ready to cook, rinse the milk off and you are ready to go. Heart of Palm noodles don’t go all mushy like regular pasta when overcooked, so you can set it to boil and forget about it. I also made a few more changes to the original recipe by Giada, as I like my Bolognese a bit thicker and less runny. This dish looks complicated on the plate, but is actually pretty easy to bring together. I add baked broccoli as a side dish. Helpful hint on the broccoli, if you peel the outer stalks and slice thin with a mandolin, they are just as delicious as the florets. By using bison and heart of palm, this meal is transformed from a once in a while treat to a regular rotation in a healthy menu. Try it once and I’m betting even wild buffalo won’t be able to drag you away from it.

Bison Bolognese:

1 lb grass fed ground bison

1/2 red onion chopped

3 carrots, peeled and chopped

3 cloves garlic diced

3/4 cup dry white wine

1 28 can whole peeled tomatoes, drained

Parmesan cheese rind

1 cup grated Parmesan

1/4 cup tomato paste

Fresh basil leaves

4 cans Heart of Palm lasagna noodles

2 tbsp grass fed butter

1/2 carton beef bone broth

1/2 tsp sea salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, dried thyme, dried oregano

2 tbsp olive oil

Instructions:

Drain and rinse the noodles and cut into egg noodle size strips. Place the noodles in a large stock pot with the carton of beef broth and bring to a boil:

Brown the bison meat and season with the spices. Drain any grease and add one tbsp of olive oil to the pan, then add the carrots and onion. Cook until soft, add the diced garlic and cook for one more minute:

Add the white wine and scrap the bottom of the pan. Simmer at least 5 minutes or until almost completely reduced:

Stir in the tomato past and the whole drained tomatoes. Break the tomatoes up by hand and place the whole basil leaves and the Parmesan cheese rind in the pot. Reduce the heat and simmer 25 minutes, stirring every so often:

Pull the basil leaves and cheese rind out of the pot. Use tongs to pull the noodles out of the broth and place on top of the meat mixture. Add the butter and tbsp of olive oil directly to the noodles and then stir into the mix. Add the grated Parmesan cheese and stir in: