New Italian Translations

Tara Fitzpatrick

Lasagna again? That's not so bad, but it's predictable. How about Pear Lasagna with Brie? Now, that's Amore!

When your customer base is largely made up of the employees or students you serve day in and day out, breaking from tradition with Italian classics is a great way to shake things up. An unexpected main ingredient can provide the twist, and so can seasonings taken from an international spice rack.

Twists not only break up menu monotony; variations on Italian favorites can become customized versions in health-conscious foodservice settings. Chefs substitute ingredients for a lighter take on a traditionally heavy Italian meal, or make changes to fit special diets.

Whatever the reason, playing around with the standards can result in new arrangements that are music to your customers' palates — and your registers.

Worlds Collide, Riffing on Risotto

At University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, OH, Senior Executive Chef Anthony Verona, CEC, says the strategy has proven effective for his menu development. Santa Fe-style pasta with black beans and red peppers is a big seller in the hospital cafeteria, he says. It incorporates the flavors of smoky chipotle chiles and bright cilantro, creating a fusion of Italy and the American Southwest, and is always a star when it is offered on the Sodexo account's “Innovations” station.

“Mixing different flavors is big right now,” Verona says. “If you can incorporate Southwestern or Asian flavors into pasta dishes, that's huge.”

The hospital's cafeteria menu cycle also includes a risotto (an Italian rice) bar, where the mix-ins can wander far beyond Italy. “Customers can put together a Greek risotto, with spinach and feta cheese,” he adds.

In another riff on risotto, Chef Stephen Bello, CEC, CCA, AAC, executive chef at South Nassau Communities Hospital on Long Island, NY, plays with texture and region in a dish that picks up influences from across America. He combines risotto and orzo, a rice-shaped Italian pasta, to make what he calls “orzatto.” This provides the dish with a lighter texture than traditional risotto because of the “pasta feel” of the orzo. Bello takes this dish to the American heartland with Tillamook cheddar cheese and applewood-smoked bacon, then continues to the West Coast by topping the “orzatto” with grilled salmon and an heirloom tomato salad. (See Wild Salmon over Herbed “Orzatto” with Heirloom Tomato Salad Vinaigrette recipe p. 42).

Verona makes a smaller change with white vegetable lasagna. While remaining fragrant with Italian seasonings, this dish replaces traditional red sauce with a white sauce, and meat is replaced with onions, carrots, mushrooms, zucchini, and green peppers. “Some patients can't have tomatoes because of special diets,” Verona says, citing renal/kidney diets as an example.

Vegetable lasagna with a white sauce is just the tip of the cannoli. Lasagna, more so than many other classic Italian dishes, lends itself to creativity. Chefs look at the long, flat lasagna noodles and see a blank canvas. Several chefs told FM that lasagna has a way with leftover ingredients.

Layers of Frugal Creativity

At the University of Massachusetts' recent Italian Festival, Chicken Lasagna (see recipe, p. 45) debuted to rave student reviews. The dish not only uses a non-traditional protein, but also makes use of leftover ingredients. Many other main ingredients can be workable in lasagna, as well. If you find yourself with leftover spare ribs, why not offer BBQ lasagna?

“We've got to be very prudent these days, as chefs,” Bello says. “With the way the economy is, you need to utilize everything you can.”

Bello turns scraps from veal scaloppine into meatballs, which become his twist on the classic Italian dish osso bucco. “With the meatballs, I use the same ingredients you'd find in osso bucco — mirepoix, tomatoes, fresh herbs — and I make Osso Bucco Soup with Meatballs.”

Related Recipes