Making a lasagna, without the heartburn?

snaptoast

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We love lasagna. Love to melt different cheeses on top, to have thick layers of bolognese sauce, etc. However, my boyfriend started getting heartburns whenever we made some. Probably the acidity... He can tolerate the same sauce with spaghetti, so I guess that lasagna, having less pasta content, just has too high a content on tomatoes or something?

I am just wondering, what are your tweaks on a lasagna that you think help reduce the acidity of the tomato sauce? I'm not a big fan of ricotta cheese.

Thank you!
 
Try adding some milk directly to the tomatoes as well as a touch a sugar to take to tomatoes. Both help me with something called a geographic tongue (I basically can't neutralise acids in my mouth so get acid burns on my tongue mostly and it hurts something chronic - my usual explanation is for someone to bite their tongue and then drink lemon juice, that is how it is for me most of the time if I don't avoid the foods that trigger it).

But you may find that there is some other issue here.
Can he actually east tomatoes for example?
It could just as easily be acid reflux which can cause long term damage to the throat and should really be investigated medically.
 
I don't have any problems eating lasagna so I don't have any tweaks of my own to share. I am wondering though, as was asked above, if your guy has trouble with tomatoes. If not, you could try making it without meat and see if he has the same problem with it. If he has a reflux issue then it could be that the lasagna is just too greasy, and there's not a whole lot you can do about that unless you make it completely vegan.
 
Exactly as ChanellG and SavNatSaysStraightOn said, maybe he has a problem with the tomatoes. I would then opt for a more vegetarian lasagna with less tomato sauce.
 
A traditional bolognese sauce doesn't have much tomato in it at all, usually just a little bit of tomato paste, but beyond that it's mostly meat and sometimes a splash of cream and wine that makes up the bulk of the sauce. I've even seen some bolognese sauce recipes that don't use any tomato at all in them - just wine and cream. Wine does of course have some acid, but it could be worth trying out for something different.

Supposedly adding a little baking soda to the sauce will reduce/neutralize some of the acidity of it, but I would probably test that on a small cup of it first before adding it to the whole pot of sauce. Sugar will cut down on the acidic taste of the sauce but not necessarily the actual acid content.

Personally, I would perhaps just cook down a pint or two of cherry tomatoes, and use that in place of half of the jarred sauce, if that's what you were using. The jarred stuff has to have a certain level of acidity to be shelf stable, so they add acids to it. You could maybe even try some yellow tomatoes, which are lower in acid than their red counterparts.

Do you think it might also possibly have to do with the portion size and the overall richness of the lasagna? Maybe go easy on the cheese and try preparing lighter, smaller portions of it.
 
You can make lasagna with an alfredo cream sauce, it's very good in a seafood lasagna! You could also go experimental and make one with pesto, I've never tried that myself but now that I've said it I want to. I sometimes get heartburn from having too much tomato sauce as well. Not enough that it stops me from eating it but I can get a bit uncomfortable.
 
I also use to have an heartburn problem. But I did not blame the acidity but the contents of fats one has problems digesting. I changed a few things and watch what I eat. With a lasagne the problem my be in two areas. First, the cheese, and secondly the meat. Also for some people the tomato acid may be a problem as well. However, try the following:
Your meat, use a lean beef mince, it may be a bit more expensive but better. When you fry off the mince for your bolognaise sauce, use olive oil, not to much. Olive oil is good for you and in a bolognaise, it tastes great. I also dice onions, garlic, fine diced carrots, fine diced leak and fine diced celery in my bolognaise. A touch of tomato paste for the thickness of the sauce and either beef stock or diced tomatoes and water. Seasoning and fresh rosemary or basil. Some people prefer Italian herb mix.
Be careful with to much cheese. Cheese has usually a very high fat content and used in moderation it should not cause indigestion. Instead of just cheese, I make a white sauce and add a bit of grated parmesan in to it. My white sauce I use milk, bring milk to near boiling point, add a runny paste of just white flour and cold milk to the hot milk and stir well while you bring the sauce to the boil again. Add some grated Parmesan cheese. Parmesan cheese has not a very high fat content.
Pasta, I simply use instant lasagne sheets. One layer of instant lasagne sheets, bolognaise sauce, a touch of my white sauce, one layer of instant lasagne sheets again and so forth. At the top I use the rest of my bolognaise and covered with the left over cheese sauce. To finish I sprinkle fine grated Parmesan or tasty cheese. Bake in the oven until ready. Now I make it a habit to have a nice green salad or mixed salad with my lasagne.
My hearth urn was always caused from indigestion and then I realised that I had something really fatty, like a meat pie.
Now I avoid Serbian foods with high fat content and I can not remember when I had my last heartburn. The combination of fats and tomato acid may intensify the problem of heartburn.
Now here is one more tip for you. You can enjoy tomato sauce for your pasta. When you cook a tomato sauce and you want to take the acidity out of the sauce, try this:
In a seperate small saucepan put about 50 ml of black Balsamic vinegar and about 4 tablespoons of brown natural sugar. Bring it to the boil, mix well until the sugar is dissolved. Add the mix to your tomato sauce. Add a bit at the time and try your sauce. It kills the acidity and it enhances the taste.
Now, you may ask, why Balsamic vinegar, has acid as well. That is correct, but it is a different acid, which is good for you. You can call it alkaline instead of acid. With the sugar it works like a dream in your tomato sauce. By the way, a very good Italian chef thought me that trick.
I hope that I could shed some light in to your heartburn problem.
Cheers and enjoy.
 
@cookwaresets, I used the tip you gave about adding balsamic to tomato sauce last night. Not for lasagne but for an (invented) aubergine with red lentils and amchar dish. It really does work! Thank you.
 
If you got a problem with tomatoes omit them add more fresh herbs or add fresh vegetables ,treat lasagna as the style of the dish and tweek it to your taste,you could add spinach or omit the garlic add different cheeses
 
Lasagna is one of my favorite dishes to serve but I do understand what you are saying about the painful indigestion that it may cause. I suffer from bleeding ulcers and one of the things that I miss during a flair is the marinara sauce I prefer with lasagna. When my stomach is bothering me I make my lasagna with a spinach pesto. It's not hard to make and it almost eliminates the indigestion. Try replacing the acidy tomatoes completely and it may help. If not you may find another offending ingredient by changing them one by one.
 
My husband is a customer of acid because he would always be attacked by his acid reflux. Well, since heartburn falls in the same category so I guess you can be cautious like what we do with pasta. We lace the tomato sauce with sugar to deaden the sour taste - that is what's causing the acid to act up. Cheese can dress up the tomato sauce but it doesn't really dilute the sour taste. Do you add ground black pepper for spices? If you do, you also have to lessen that.
 
Advice from my own mother-- reduce your meat, cheese and if possible use more mushrooms and tomatoes. I think it's important to think healthy when making this classic dish. One way to lessen the heartburn is to reduce your portion sizes. Don't eat until you're full, eat just enough. Use smaller plates if you have to.
 
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