Spaghetti, Linguine,
Rotini, Oh My!
Kitchen Wisdom Says . . .
• I made the sauce with meat and without
meat, and the students enjoyed both.
Making it without meat provides a great
vegetarian option—but make sure to use
vegetable stock instead of chicken stock.
• U
sing a tilt skillet can make prep significantly easier.
• I would recommend adding the basil and
red pepper flakes earlier in the process—
along with the chicken stock. That way, the
dehydrated herbs have a longer amount of
time to flavor the end product.
• I n a pinch, drained, canned, diced tomatoes
can be used instead of fresh, with the
reserved juice from the can added along
with the stock. In fact, the canned diced
tomatoes would have a more pronounced
tomato flavor than you get with fresh and
would be more consistent than when using
fresh. Plus, using the juice from the can
would add a nice flavor boost.
• I would add more beans to this recipe.
• I mixed up the peppers by adding some
red and yellow along with the green bell
peppers in the recipe.
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Chicken, Beans and Greens Pasta
YIELD: 32 servings (½ cup pasta, ½ cup
sauce and ½ teaspoon Parmesan cheese)
INGREDIENTS
Chicken breast, diced*—1 lb.
White beans, canned—2 lbs.
Spinach, frozen—2 cups
Green bell peppers, diced—2 cups
Yellow onions, diced—2 cups
Garlic, minced—2 Tbsps.
Tomatoes, fresh, diced—1 qt.
Olive oil—2 2⁄3 Tbsps.
Chicken stock, low-sodium—2 qts.
Whole-wheat penne pasta—1 lb.
Dried basil—2 Tbsps.
Crushed red pepper flakes—1⁄2 tsp.
Cornstarch—1⁄2 cup
Water, warm—As needed
Parmesan cheese, grated—2 Tbsps.
DIRECTIONS
1. In a large bowl, combine the diced
chicken, drained and rinsed white beans
and thawed spinach. Stir well to combine.
Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
2. In a shallow steamtable pan, combine the
diced green bell peppers, diced onions,
minced garlic, diced tomatoes and olive oil.
FOOD
Focus
By Arianne Corbett, RD
Kitchen
Wisdom
says . . . Try This!
Pasta popularity doesn’t
have to peter out in the
wake of whole-grain mandates
for school meals.
Americans
says love
...
.
It’s the ultimate comfort food. It’s a food that brings people
together. Warm or cold, pasta makes us feel good inside. Rich,
creamy macaroni and cheese warms you on a cold winter’s
night. Steaming, chicken noodle soup nurses you back to health
from illness. Pasta salad is a mainstay of the summer barbecue.
And it’s hard to imagine a big spaghetti dinner that doesn’t
evoke images of family gathered around a table, talking,
laughing and enjoying each other’s company.
Toss well to coat the vegetables with the
olive oil.
3. Roast the vegetables uncovered in a 350°F
oven for 15 minutes, or until the onions are
golden and the bell pepper is soft.
4. Remove the vegetables from the oven, and
add the chicken, bean and spinach mixture,
along with the chicken stock. Stir well to
combine.
5. Cover the pan with foil and return to the
oven for 15 minutes, or until the sauce has
reached an internal temperature of 160°F.
6. While veggie-chicken sauce is baking,
cook the whole-wheat penne pasta accord-
ing to package directions until it’s al dente in
texture. Do not overcook.
7. Drain the pasta, reserving one cup of
pasta water. Transfer the cooked pasta and
the reserved pasta water to a separate
steamtable pan. Cover and keep warm,
according to food-safe temperature
standards.
8. Combine the basil, red pepper flakes and
cornstarch with enough warm water to make
a slurry. It should have the consistency of
skim milk.
9. Remove the veggie-chicken sauce from
the oven and pour the slurry into it, stirring
carefully to combine and thicken the sauce.
10. To serve (K-8): Portion a half-cup of pasta
with a half-cup of sauce and top it with ½ tsp.
of Parmesan cheese.*
Photo and recipe: Sara Lee Foodservice, www.saraleefood
service.com
*Notes: Sara Lee® Lower Sodium Oven Roasted
Chicken Breast can be used in this recipe. Recipe
can be served to students in grades 9-12: 1 cup
pasta with 1 cup sauce and 1 tsp. Parmesan
cheese, but note that the recipe yield will be 16
servings. If this recipe passes the test with a small
number of students, conduct a nutrient analysis
and calculate for meal pattern requirements
before menuing.
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Club Med With Rotini
FOOD
Focus
YIELD: 100 (12-oz.) servings
PER SERVING: 440 cal., 15 g fat, 25 mg
chol., 746 mg sod., 65 g carb., 11 g fiber,
5 g sugar, 15 g pro.
INGREDIENTS
Whole-grain enriched rotini*—12 lbs., 8 ozs.
Garbanzo beans, canned, low-sodium
—6 qts., 1 cup
Cucumber, peeled and diced—9 lbs.,
12 ozs.
Romaine lettuce, chopped—13 lbs.
Tomatoes, fresh, diced—11 lbs., 8 ozs.
Feta cheese, crumbled—6 lbs., 4 ozs.
Olives, sliced—1 qt., 2 1⁄4 cups
Balsamic vinaigrette—6 qts., 1 cup
America began its love affair with pasta
long ago. Early colonists brought pasta to
America, but it was Thomas Jefferson who
is credited with bringing the first “macaroni” machine to our shores in 1789, after
returning home from service as ambassador
to France. Today, the United States
produces some 2 million tons of pasta every
year, making it the second-largest pastaproducing nation in the world. As individuals, Americans collectively consume 6
DIRECTIONS
billion pounds of pasta annually—that’s
1. Cook the pasta for 1 minute less than is indicated on the package. Boiling method: Bring
almost 20 pounds per person! If you stacked
water to a boil, add pasta and bring water to a boil again. Do not add oil to the water.
that much pasta in 16-oz. packages of
Steamer method: Place 2 pounds of dry pasta in shallow perforated pans nested inside
spaghetti end-to-end, it would circle the
steamtable pans. Cover with water. Steam for 8 minutes or until texture is just al dente.
Earth’s equator more than nine times!
2. To cool: Place the pasta flat on sheet trays or steamtable pans.
Pasta is easy to
Spray lightly with olive oil and place in a blast chiller. Alternately,
cook, delicious,
Kitchen Wisdom Says . . .
cool the pasta down in a walk-in cooler. Store in sealed plastic
inexpensive and can be
• If balsamic vinaigrette is not available, a
bags or a sealed plastic container.
light Italian dressing may be used as a subenjoyed in hundreds of
stitute. The cooked pasta can be marinated
3. Drain the garbanzo beans and the olives. Peel and dice the
creative recipes. More
in the dressing for optional flavor.
cucumbers. Keep items separate, but covered, until recipe
than 600 different
• Feta cheese is very strong and a lot of
assembly.
pasta shapes and sizes
students may not like this type. I recommend
4. Remove the cooled pasta, along with the lettuce, tomatoes and
are produced worldtaste testing this ingredient for acceptability
feta cheese, from the cooler. Lay out all of the ingredients for a
wide. Just consider the
before menuing.
recipe assembly line.
long strings of
• We do not use feta cheese, as it can be
5. In a salad dish place 1 cup of romaine lettuce using a 1-cup
spaghetti and linguini,
expensive. I would recommend adding Parspoodle. Top with 1 cup of cooked, cooled, whole-grain rotini
mesan cheese as final garnish instead.
flat strips of lasagna,
using a 1-cup spoodle. Add: 1⁄2 cup garbanzo beans using a
filled pastas (such as
• T his recipe might be better served as a side
dish instead of an entrée.
#8 scoop; 1⁄4 cup tomatoes using a #16 scoop; 1⁄4 cup diced
tortellini and ravioli)
cucumbers using a #16 scoop; and 1-oz. feta crumbles using a #16
and crazy shapes,
scoop. Sprinkle each serving with 1 tablespoon sliced ripe olives.
including shells,
ribbons, tubes, wagon wheels, bow ties and
Recipe and analysis: Barilla Foodservice, www.barillafoodservicerecipes.com.
Photo: Courtesy of Wesley Delbridge, RD, director of Food and Nutrition, Chandler (Ariz.) Unified School District.
stars. What reigns supreme with Americans? The most popular pasta shapes in the
*Notes: Barilla® Whole Grain Enriched Rotini can be used for this recipe. According to the recipe
United States are spaghetti, thin spaghetti,
source, each serving provides 2 oz. eq. grains, 2 oz. eq. meat/meat alternate, ⁄ cup dark green
vegetable, ⁄ cup red/orange vegetable and ¼ cup other vegetable.
elbows, rotini, penne and lasagna.
Bring all these elements together, and it’s
no surprise that pasta continues to be such a
Program and School Breakfast Program
pasta becomes unfamiliar? When pasta
hit with kids and is a high-volume item in
must be whole grain-rich and contain at
evolves?
school cafeterias from coast to coast. “Pasta
least 50% whole-grain meal and/or flour.
is an absolute mainstay on kids’ menus
These standards reflect the most current
across the country,” explains Alexei Rudolf, Pasta and School Meals
Dietary Guidelines for Americans and were
It’s not your parents’ pasta that’s being
a public relations representative for Barilla
developed to help ensure that new generaserved in school meals today. While
Foodservice. “The top kids’ meal pasta
whole-grain pastas enjoy a relatively small
dishes are macaroni and cheese, spaghetti
tions get exposure to healthier menu
share of the retail market, in school
and meatballs and buttered noodles, and
choices at an early age.
nutrition programs, whole-grain pastas are
these have not changed in a long time,” he
Need clarity about the different product
adds. Frequent exposure at home and out at on the grow and here to stay. As most
types? USDA offers the following definiSchool Nutrition readers know, federal
restaurants lends itself to a familiarity and
tions.
popularity that makes pasta a natural choice regulations now require that all grains
n Whole-grain pasta: 100% of whole
offered in the National School Lunch
for school menus. But what happens when
grain ingredients are whole grain.
1
1
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4
2
n Whole grain-rich or Whole grainrich blended pasta: 50-100% of wholegrain ingredients are whold grain, the
remaining portion which is not whole
grain must be enriched.
n Enriched pasta: Pasta made with
grain ingredients that meet standards of
identity of enrichment. Pasta made with
more than 50% enriched-grain ingredients
is not considered whole grain-rich.
Because of the longstanding popularity
of traditional pasta, the acceptability of
whole-grain variations is a critical issue for
school nutrition operators and the vendors
that serve the K-12 segment. While many
types of whole grain-rich pasta are on the
market, including options through the
USDA Foods Program, reports from
program operators and industry alike
indicate that there are obstacles to children’s
acceptance, such as products that degrade
easily during preparation and storage.
For this reason, USDA issued specific
flexibility for the whole-grain requirement
for pasta products, if a school food authority
(SFA) can demonstrate hardship in
obtaining acceptable pasta that meets the
nutrient standards. This means that if
acceptable products are not available or
accepted by students, the state agency may
approve the SFA’s request to continue to
serve enriched pasta products during
SY 2014-15 and SY 2015-16. However, this
flexibility is available only until acceptable
products are deemed available and while the
SFA can demonstrate a continued negative
impact. In addition, at press time, Congress
had just passed a bill allowing states to
establish an exemption allowing struggling
SFAs to meet the July 2012 requirements
for whole grains; check with your state
agency about how this may affect the types
of pasta products you can menu.
If you are among those experiencing
pasta-related challenges, keep the faith and
have hope! State agencies and USDA have
prioritized the need for training and
technical assistance to overcome these
challenges. Manufacturers and distributors are working diligently to bring new
and improved products to market.
n New products available or coming
whole grain and whole grain-rich blended
forms, providing states with flexibility in
choosing the pasta options that work best
for their SFAs. Now, it’s your turn: Be a
squeaky wheel and let your state agency
know the specific products you want in
your program.
The longstanding
popularity of pasta
makes acceptability of
whole-grain varieties a
critical issue.
soon? Offer to pilot-test new products—
doing so can be a great way to get free or
discounted products to offer as samples to
students, in an effort to build their
acceptance before you menu something
brand-new.
n Concerned about cost? Some SFAs
report that high-quality whole-grain
products come with a higher price tag.
Keep in mind that if such products are
embraced by students, it likely will result
in increased sales, helping to defer costs.
n Having difficulty obtaining specific
types or popular shapes of preferred
noodles that meet the standards? Work
together with neighboring districts to get
what you need. Even if you don’t participate in a formal procurement cooperative
for all food purchases, you can partner
together to approach a distributor with
sufficient combined case volume.
n Is your state agency working with
you? Through the USDA Foods distribution program, states currently can order
100% whole-grain spaghetti, rotini and
macaroni products. At press time, they
could order whole grain-rich blended
spaghetti, rotini and macaroni, with
deliveries expected to begin in January.
Also, USDA Foods is introducing a new
pasta shape, penne, available in both 100%
whole grain and whole grain-rich blended
forms, with deliveries scheduled to begin
April-June 2015. USDA plans to continue
offering all four pasta shapes in both 100%
Perfect Pasta Prep
In the meantime, take heart from some of
your peers from around the country who
are finding ways to stay pasta positive.
“Manufacturers are improving [their]
products tremendously,” asserts Linette
Dodson, PhD, RD, SNS, director of
school nutrition for Carrolton City (Ga.)
Schools. “Today’s higher-quality wholegrain pastas perform pretty well.” Dodson
has found that with the availability of a
high-quality pasta product in her program,
her students and staff accepted the
whole-grain characteristics well. “The kids
really seem to like it, and my staff is more
partial to the whole grain, because it
retherms so well,” she explains.
How you prep your whole-grain pasta is
a key factor in gaining acceptability with
students. In Evanston Township (Ill.)
High School District 202, Director of
Nutrition Services Kim Minestra has
worked hard to identify efficiencies when
cooking whole-grain pasta. “We cook the
pasta a day in advance,” she says. “Then
we take the hot sauce, like an alfredo or
meat sauce, and put it all in a tilt skillet”
until it reaches the appropriate temperature. The result? “The whole-grain pasta
holds up great! It doesn’t get gummy at
all,” Minestra reports.
Dodson and her managers rely on their
combi-ovens when prepping pasta. “They
set a timer, stir halfway through and come
back and know it is done,” says Dodson.
The simplicity of this cooking method
allows each site to batch cook pasta
throughout the service period, so each
student gets fresh pasta as they come
through the line. “We combine the sauce as
we go. That really makes the difference,”
she insists.
The school nutrition operation at San
Diego Unified School District had all
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Squish Squash Lasagna
FOOD
Focus
but removed pasta from the menu due to
production challenges faced in prepping
the dish for service at satellite locations.
With 19 production kitchens servicing
more than 200 facilities—and no cooking
equipment at many of these—menuing a
traditional, acceptable pasta dish has been
quite the challenge. Then, the school
nutrition team partnered with a California-based vendor, Nate’s Fine Foods, to
order a precooked whole-grain pasta
product to incorporate into recipes.
“They use the product we want and
handle the cooking, packaging and
distribution to our sites. They also
produce literature on how to reheat the
pasta,” describes Fred Espinosa, manager
of production and acquisition for San
Diego USD’s school foodservice department. “It’s all about the right product for
the right purpose with the right vendor,”
he emphasizes. Whether you cook to order,
cook ahead or buy pre-made, the versatility of whole-grain pasta does allow for
customization based on operational needs.
Redevelop Your Recipes
Preparation issues at high-volume yields is
not the only potential obstacle you may
face in gaining student acceptance for
whole-grain pasta; these products bring a
different flavor profile to the plate and the
palate. Some students may not notice, or
won’t mind, the differences between
traditional and whole-grain varieties. But
if student acceptability is a challenge, try
working on your recipes to create better
flavor pairings.
Barilla America suggests pairing
whole-grain pasta with sweeter, more
savory sauces, featuring such additions as
roasted vegetables, mushrooms and aged
cheese. In fact, Barilla Executive Chef
Lorenzo Boni recommends roasting
vegetables and proteins specifically to add
caramelization and bring out their
sweetness. “The earthy, deeper flavors [of
these ingredients] complement whole
grains really nicely,” Boni instructs.
Jeremy West, SNS, nutrition service
director for Greeley-Evans Weld
County (Colo.) School District 6, and
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YIELD: 50 servings
PER SERVING: 175 cal., 7.6 g pro., 29 g carb., 3.7 g fat, 7.7 mg chol., 9,102 IU vit. A, 18 mg vit. C,
149 mg calcium, 83 mg sod., 5 g fiber
INGREDIENTS
Onions, diced—1 lb., 8 ozs.
Garlic, minced—3 ozs.
Canola oil—2 tsps.
Tomatoes, canned, diced, low-sodium
—6 lbs., 4 ozs.
Dried oregano—1 1⁄2 tsps.
Dried thyme—1 1⁄2 tsps.
Dried basil—1 1⁄2 tsps.
Whole-wheat lasagna sheets, no boil*
—2 lbs., 6 1⁄4 ozs.
Butternut squash, fresh, peeled, sliced—
9 lbs., 4 ozs.
Spinach, fresh, sliced—1 lb.
Mozzarella cheese, lowfat, shredded—1 lb., 9 ozs.
DIRECTIONS
1. Slice the butternut squash into ¼-in. pieces. Set aside until assembly.
2. To prepare the tomato sauce: Sauté the onions and garlic in the canola oil for 2-3 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, oregano, thyme and basil. Simmer over low heat, uncovered, for 30
minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Place the lasagna sheets in hot water for 7-10 minutes. Remove the sheets from the water
as the dish is assembled.
4. To assemble: Lightly coat 2 steamtable pans (12x20x2½-in.) with pan release spray.
Spread the following ingredients evenly across each pan. First layer: 16 lasagna sheets,
slightly overlapping by approximately 1 inch, followed by 2 ½ cups tomato sauce, topping
that with about 2 ½ cups spinach and finishing with approximately 35 slices of butternut
squash, slightly overlapping.
5. Repeat for a second layer.
6. Top with a last layer of 2 ½ cups tomato sauce.
7. Cover the pans with foil and bake until the squash is fork tender. In a conventional oven,
bake at 350°F for 60-75 minutes. In a convection oven, bake at 350°F for 40-55 minutes.
8. Remove the pans from the oven. Sprinkle 3 1⁄8 cups of mozzarella cheese evenly over the
top of each pan of lasagna. Return to the oven, to bake, uncovered, until the cheese starts to
brown slightly. In a conventional oven: 350°F for 15 minutes; in a convection oven: 350°F for
10 minutes. Critical Control Point: Heat to 135 °F or higher for at least 15 seconds.
9. Remove the pans from the oven and allow the lasagna to set for 15 minutes before
serving.
10. Portion: Cut each pan 5x5 (25 pieces per pan).
Photo, recipe and analysis: USDA’s Recipes for Healthy Kids Cookbook for Schools, http://teamnutrition.usda.gov
*Notes: Lasagna sheets should measure 3½x7 inches. According to the recipe source, each serving
provides ½ oz. equivalent meat alternate, 5⁄8 cup red/orange vegetable, 1⁄8 cup other vegetable, and
¾ oz. equivalent grains.
his staff make delicious sauces a priority in
their program. A homemade marinara,
rich with puréed zucchini, carrots, onions
and celery, is a hit base for meat sauce—
and on pizza. “If your sauce is awesome,
they will probably not notice what pasta
it’s on,” West maintains.
Indeed, creative recipes are a signature of
this operation. In a team effort with a local
chef, a food science teacher at Winograd
K-8 Elementary, students hand-picked for
their passion for food and community
volunteer, Administrative Dietitian Kara
Sample, RD, SNS, was key in an awardwinning project to create a delicious pasta
dish in a white sauce. The recipe, Chic’
Penne, was selected as the first-place winner
of the whole-grains category for the 2011
Recipes for Healthy Kids Challenge. (You
can find this recipe in the Recipes for
Healthy Kids Cookbook for Schools available
at Teamnutrition.usda.gov.
West also advises the use of baked
pastas to introduce students to wholegrain formulations. “Try something like a
chicken alfredo bake or baked ziti in place
of the standard spaghetti; that is a good
way to ease people in,” suggests West.
“The whole-grain pasta is not as noticeable
in a baked dish.”
Carroll City’s Dodson agrees and uses
whole-grain noodles in her lasagna. In fact,
she uses uncooked dry noodles when
prepping the lasagna. “It is an easier
process to build the lasagna. It cuts and
serves better as a result. We just add a little
extra water to the recipe,” she reports.
In Evanston Township, Minestra
shakes things up on the menu with cold
pasta dishes. “We do a Caesar salad with
pasta on top as a garnish. It’s enough to
count as a one-grain serving,” she notes,
“We also do a soba noodle salad with tofu
and edamame for our older students.”
Another Evanston hit is a layered pasta
salad served in a shaker container. “We put
olive oil and lots of seasoning at the
bottom, then layer beans, vegetables and
pasta on top. They mix it themselves [by
shaking],” explains Minestra.
In San Diego, pasta goes into Meatball
Italiano soup served on “the bistro line.”
Created to serve as a nutritionally superior
replacement to the district’s much-loved
Cup Noodles, Espinosa and Menu Systems
Development Dietitian Jessica Keene used
Campbell’s Souped Up!™ concept to create
the recipe. The Meatball Italiano soup is a
reimbursable meal featuring whole
grain-rich pasta, meatballs and vegetables
built on a Campbell’s soup base.
Fight the Good Fight
School nutrition professionals have a long,
proud history of rising to the challenges of
new regulations and changing student
tastes. West articulates it well: “This is
what we are going to do. This is how we are
doing business going forward. We will
probably fail a few times along the way, but
U
BONUS
WEB CONTENT
SDA’s Food and Nutrition Service
offers a variety of resources to
help you meet your whole-grain
pasta challenges. School Nutrition has
compiled these links into a list you can
access as part of this month’s exclusive
online extras. In addition, we’ve posted
cooking instructions developed for
USDA by Barilla Foodservice. Visit www.
schoolnutrition.org/snmagazinebonus
content to access.
we have to figure out a way to make it
work.” San Diego’s Espinosa and Keene
echo the sentiment, “We fully support
what’s trying to be done, even if we have to
change the way we do things. It’s the right
thing to do!” SN
Arianne Corbett is managing director of Leading
Health, LLC, in Tampa, Fla., and a former manager
of nutrition advocacy at SNA. Photography by
Hemera, iStock/jiunlimited.com.
Going Gluten-Free?
W
ith increased incidence and diagnosis of wheat allergies, celiac disease and
gluten intolerance, you may be experiencing higher demand for gluten- and
wheat-free products in your school meals program—a demand that is
reflected in the consumer market, as well. “The gluten-free market experienced 44%
growth from 2011 to 2014,” reports Herb Miller, vice president of sales and marketing
for ProHealth Pasta. “Projections for 2014 to 2016 expect an additional 48% growth.
This is not one of those flash trends,” he emphasizes.
Pasta manufacturers have developed a wide variety of different gluten-free
options for retail consumers and foodservice operations. These include pastas
made of corn and rice—and even ground lentils and black beans. Acceptability of
such products is on the rise, although so are the prices.
If you’re exploring such options, continue to work with your manufacturers and distributors to learn what is available and/or in
development. Most important, don’t be afraid to try out new products. Deanne Pastva, RD, LD, foodservice supervisor at Revere
High School, Richfield, Ohio, shares her experience with a ProHealth pasta variety made from red lentils, “We used a meat sauce
with it, and it was good. It held up well. The students didn’t really comment on it, and we don’t think they noticed that it wasn’t a
grain.”
Recipes obtained from outside sources and published in School Nutrition have not been tested by the magazine or SNA in a school foodservice
setting, except for certain “Kitchen Wisdom” selections, which are evaluated by a volunteer pool of operators. When available, nutrient analyses are
provided by the recipe source. Required ingredients, preparation steps and nutrient content make some recipes more appropriate for catering
applications or adult meals. Readers are encouraged to test recipes and calculate their own nutrition analyses and meal patterns before adding a
recipe to school menus. In addition, SN recognizes that individual schools use varying documentation methods and preparation steps to comply with
HACCP principles; we encourage you to add your own HACCP steps to these recipes.
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