Gluten Free Spaghetti: Royal Quinoa and Rice

I am always on the lookout for new gluten free products to try, particularly pastas.

I was at Thomas Dux Grocer in Surry Hills in Sydney and was delighted to see the number of gluten free products is growing.  They now have over 200 gluten free products in-store.  This is fantastic!

 Whilst browsing through the grocers I found this new pasta:  Organic Royal Quinoa and Rice Spaghetti.  Naturally I bought it along with a few other treats.

This pasta is lovely.  It held its shape well and did not turn to mush when cooked.  I am assuming that this is due to the royal quinoa in the pasta.  The flavour is nondescript, similar to non-gluten free pastas.

When trying this as home, I prepared a quick pasta sauce to my husband's request:  something with tomatoes, olives and pine nuts.  This I what I cooked on the fly:

Tomato, Black Olive and Pine Nut Spaghetti

3 handfuls of grape tomatoes, cut into halves - would equate to roughly two cups of whole tomatoes

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 1/2 tbs of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup of pitted black kalamata olives
3 tbs of pine nuts, toasted
salt to taste

Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan and add the tomatoes.  Stir them so they are coated in the oil.

Once the tomatoes have cooked for a minute or so, add the minced garlic and drop the heat down to low to prevent the garlic from burning.  Mix this through so it is well combined with the tomatoes.  Add a good pinch of salt and let the tomatoes cook down for five to ten minutes.

When the tomatoes have become soft, let the sauce reduce so that it thickens a little.

Once the sauce is of a slightly thick consistency taste and add salt as required.  The mix through the olives.

Stir the sauce through cooked spaghetti and serve topped with toasted pine nuts and shaved parmesan.

monica@loveglutenfreeaustralia

Gluten Free Cooking 101

One staple that I always have on hand in the fridge is a homemade tomato sauce.  I do find that many meals I make are based on a tomato sauce.  My mother always says that this is one of the simplest things to cook and can be used as a basis for many dishes.

By pre-making this sauce and keeping it in either the fridge or freezer, you can cut your dinner preparation time right down whether it be for a quick pasta or one pot wonder of chicken and veg in the oven.  This sauce is very versatile and I hope that you find many uses for it yourself.

My Basic Gluten Free Tomato Sauce

1 medium onion
a glug of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbs verjuice
3 x 400g tins of diced Italian tomatoes
half a 400g tin of water - used to rinse out the tomato tin
a large sprig of fresh basil, preferably sweet basil or a pinch of dried basil
a small sprig of fresh oregano or a large pinch of dried oregano 
a pinch of nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbs white vinegar
2 1/2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

Heat the oil and sauté the diced onion until transparent.  It is at this point that I add the herbs and salt to quickly heat them.  Add the verjuice to the pan and let it evaporate a little.

Add the tomatoes and stir through the onions, verjuice and herbs.  At this point, add the half tin of water,  I rinse the tins out so that no bits of tomato are wasted.  

Let this cook at a low simmer for about 35-40 minutes or until the liquid has evaporated, so that the sauce is at a nice thick consistency.  

Add the extra virgin olive oil and the vinegar and taste checking for a balance between the oil and the vinegar - you don't want too much of one or the other.  Also add salt and pepper as needed as well. 

If you have used fresh herbs, fish the stems of the basil and the oregano out of the sauce before bottling in a clean jar, covering the sauce with a layer of extra virgin olive oil.  This can keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks or freeze and defrost and use as required.

monica@loveglutenfreeaustralia

Quick Gluten Free Pasta Bake

The sudden drop in temperature a few weeks ago brought me back to some winter favourites.  The dish in question was gluten free pasta bake.  This dish is always well received at the dinner table.

Usually I spend a little more time in making a sauce and putting together.  However this time around I wanted to get dinner on the table as quickly as possible.

My solution to this dilemma was to cut the preparation time down by simplifying the sauce and putting the pasta on to cook before I began making the sauce.  Fortunately, first thinking a little about what I wanted to prepare helped save me some time.  Jamie Oliver eat your heart out!

This pasta has a really simple tomato and garlic sauce.  The added goodness comes from chopped up lost/forgotten vegetables from the bottom of the vegetable crisper - we all have them - you know you do!  My vegetables on this occasion were broccoli and beans which fortunately are a good combination with a tomato based sauce.

This dinner in all probably took about 30 minutes to prepare, maybe even quicker as I had not timed myself.  Prepare this yourself and let me know if you beat my personal best.

Tomato and Garlic Gluten Free Pasta Bake

500g of gluten free pasta

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

4 cloves of garlic

1 & 1/2 cups of passata (or use an equivalent amount of diced tinned tomatoes)

1/2 tsp of dried chilli flakes

2 good pinches of salt

2 cups of grated cheese - I used a mix of mozzarella and cheddar

1 handful of beans

4 florets and stem of broccoli

Grease a lasagne dish ready for the pasta bake and preheat the oven to 160 degrees fan forced.

Bring a pan of water to the boil, about 2 litres should be enough for 500g of pasta.  Add a pinch of salt to the boiling water and pour in the pasta.  Cook according to the direction on the packet.  This will be anywhere from 6-10 minutes depending on the brand.  Try and not let it over cook.  

Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a small saucepan.  Whilst this is heating, mince the four cloves of garlic.  I use a microplane - so quick and easy.  Once the oil is warm add the garlic and let it sauté gently being careful to not let it burn.  The aim is to have the garlic become a little golden in colour and beautifully fragrant.  This will take several minutes.

Whilst the garlic is gently cooking, wash and chop up the vegetables.  When the pasta is almost done, add them to the pot.  This way they will cook a little, depending on the type of vegetable and the size of the pieces.  You need to keep this is in mind when making a dish like this.  In this recipe, the beans and broccoli were cut up in small pieces and they take virtually no time to cook.  

Once the vegetables are in cooking with the pasta, the garlic should be ready.  Add the passata, salt and dried chilli flakes.  Check for seasoning and add more salt if required. 

The pasta should now be ready.  Drain along with the vegetables.

Tip this into a greased baking dish and pour the tomato and garlic sauce over the top.  Mix through carefully ensuring that each piece of pasta is 'kissed' by the sauce.  Top with the grated cheese and put into the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden and bubbling.

Serve immediately.  Serves 4-6.

monica@loveglutenfreeaustralia

Carbonara with a Difference

In the seemingly never-ending cold evenings that we are having I am finding that I really crave comfort food.  So when watching a food show last night I was inspired to cook a spaghetti carbonara - gluten-free of course!  

Many think that a carbonara sauce is a cream based sauce.  Traditionally, it is a raw egg and cheese based sauce and is delicious, rich, creamy sauce that I really enjoy.  You have the choice of using either smoked bacon or speck, or you can use pancetta which creates a different flavour. This recipe is very quick to prepare and is a lovely first course in an Italian feast.  For this dish I have combined it with vegetables for some added goodness as I am not preparing a main or salad course.

This time of the year I really love the vegetables that the cool weather brings especially kale also known as tuscan cabbage.  This deep green vegetable is similar to cabbage but with long dark green leaves that are very reptile like.  The taste is very subtle and is rather hardy when cooked.  What I mean by this is that it keeps its shape and texture much better than chard or regular spinach.  

So for tonight's diner I had a craving for both and thought why not combine the two? 

Spaghetti Carbonara

250g gluten free spaghetti - I have used San Remo's Spaghetti
a good glug of olive oil - about 2 tablespoons
a small piece of unsalted butter - about 20g
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed with a knife, no need to cut it up
4 x short-cut rashers of bacon about - 110g if you use pancetta or speck
2 large eggs
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese - loosely packed
1/4 cup freshly grated pecorino cheese - loosely packed
a pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 leaves of kale - about half a bunch

Put the spaghetti onto to cook - this should only take about 8 minutes depending on the instructions on your pasta packet.

Whilst the pasta is cooking start the sauce straight away without delay.  Heat the oil in a fry pan and melt the butter.  Add the knife flattened garlic to the oil and butter and fry until it is golden.  Once it has reached a rich golden colour, pick the garlic out of the pan leaving the garlic flavoured oil and butter behind.  

As the garlic is gently cooking, dice the bacon, include the fat on the meat this will add to the flavour of the sauce.  Cook the bacon in the flavoured oil/butter combination, until it is golden and crispy.
As the bacon is cooking you need to get cracking (no pun intended!) on the rest of the sauce.

Break the eggs into a bowl adding the salt, nutmeg and the pepper.  Grate the cheeses onto the top of the eggs and the spices.  Mix everything up together and set aside.  
Wash off the leaves of kale and rip the tough centre vein out of the leaves.  Slice the up kale into about 2cm wide strips.  By now the bacon should be cooked. 
Push the it to one side of the fry pan, add the kale to the other and fry gently in the oil stirring the coat the leaves.   Pick the kale of the of the fry pan and set aside - you will use it in a moment to adorn your pasta.  

Keep the fry pan on the heat and add the vermouth.  The added liquid will spit and splutter but let it cook down a little and mix with the bacon in the pan.  Turn the heat off on the fry pan and drain the pasta keeping some of the cooking water in the saucepan.
Now working very quickly, tip the pasta into the fry pan with the bacon and combine the two.  Pour the egg and cheese mixture in with the pasta and mix through fast, adding some of the cooking water to the help lubricate the sauce.  Ensure that every strand of pasta is coated in the carbonara sauce.

Dish the pasta into a bowl finishing off the pasta with its topping of the cooked kale and a sprinkle of freshly grated parmesan cheese.  

Dinner in a Flash

There are some evenings that you arrive home from work later than anticipated and the grand plans that you had to prepare dinner using a newly found recipe fall quickly by the wayside.  This happened to me last night.  I arrived home late and starving.  I was soon cooking one of my many fall-back fast dinner 'recipes'.  

These meals that I prepare are not following any strict instructions or ingredient list.  I simply look in the fridge and the cupboard at what I have at hand and prepare dinner accordingly.  Invariably many of the fast meals are based around a pasta dish.

The particular dish that I prepared last night was spaghetti with a five minute tomato sauce.  In the time that the pasta took to cook, I had prepared a fresh tomato sauce using only tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, garlic and salt.  So simple and delicious.

Ten Minute Spaghetti with Tomato and Garlic Sauce

125g of gluten-free spaghetti
1 1/2 tomatoes diced
3 cloves of garlic finely sliced
1 decent glug of extra virgin olive oil
a generous pinch of salt
grated parmesan cheese
a grind of black pepper

Cook your gluten-free pasta according to the instructions on the packet.  Once this is cooking, heat up your frying pan.

Dice your tomatoes and finely chop the garlic.  Add a decent glug of extra virgin olive oil to the frying pan and heat.  Add the garlic, it should cook straight away with the kitchen being filled with the gorgeous garlic smell.  Turn the flame down to allow the garlic to cook and become golden, remove it from the oil and place to one side, leaving the garlic flavoured oil in the pan.

Add the tomato and let these cook down, adding a pinch of salt.  The tomatoes will quickly soften and become sauce like.  Add the garlic back into the pan with the tomatoes and continue to cook gently.  

The pasta should be cooked by now, strain and save some of the cooking water in the saucepan.  Put the pasta back into the pan it was cooked in.  Taste the sauce and season with salt as necessary.  It should have the sweet, savouriness of the garlic with the richness of the tomato and extra virgin olive oil.   Stir the sauce through the pasta ensuring the each strand of spaghetti is 'kissed' by the sauce.

Serve the pasta topped with grated parmesan and a grind of fresh pepper.  Serves one.

To create this meal for more than one, simply multiply the ingredients accordingly.  This dish can be served alongside a meat or veg dish as well.

Gluten Free Pasta

Before my diagnosis with coeliac disease, my diet had always been quiet balanced for my mind however this pasta lover was at a loose end.  Pasta was a huge family favourite and featured regularly in my weekly dinner menu.  But now no pasta - my heart was broken!

I was not able to find gluten free pasta readily in the larger supermarkets, in fact I could not find any.  I had read about a health food store in my local area that sounded like it stocked a variety of products that were wheat and gluten free as well as organic and free from preservatives and other nasties.  When I first visited this store I felt a huge sigh of relief.  I had a couple of gluten free pastas to choose from and there were a couple of breads as well.  My main aim of that visit was to find pasta that was going to fill the void that I now had in my diet.

I remember that I found a rice pasta and on first cooking it I was not too pedantic about the cooking time.  Alas it turned a little gluggy, but I soldiered on and did my best to enjoy the pasta with bolognese sauce that I had made.  Whilst it was not the same as the wheat pasta that I had enjoyed all of my life I was a little disheartened but was not going to let this beat me.  I tried cooking that pasta again a few days later and this time was very particular about the time and all was fine.  The consistency whilst different was something that I knew I would get used to.

Gradually over time, I researched new varieties of pastas that quickly became available and found that the pastas that were a blend of rice and corn, for example were of a much better consistency and were not as sensitive to a second or two of extra cooking - this was fantastic.

I also had great luck with the vegetable based pastas which were a nice change.

All of these pastas were nice, however I really did miss eating spaghetti.

The Italians have so many different varieties of shapes of pasta that are used along side different types of sauces.  The more lumpy or chunky a sauce is, the better is goes with pasta shells or spirals as the sauce is able to be caught in the crevices of the pasta shape, hence you can eat and enjoy your pasta and sauce together.

The more creamy sauces go well with the spaghetti, fettucini and linguini pastas as they coat the long strands of pastas very well.

A few years after my diagnosis San Remo released a range of gluten free pastas, one of which was a spaghetti.  Naturally I bought a packet immediately and dinner that night was spaghetti bolognese.

I carefully cooked the pasta according to the directions on the packet - how was it going to turn out?  How would it taste?  Would it fall apart?

When straining the pasta all looked well the pasta was perfectly cooked.

I piled it into the bowl and topped it was the bolognese sauce and parmesan cheese:  now was the moment.  The first mouthful was utter bliss.  It was divine!  I felt as thought I had reached my pasta nirvana at last!

I must admit that whilst the Orgran brand is great, the pasta was still not the same in consistency and taste as wheat pasta and this is what I was really craving and missing terribly.  When the San Remo pasta was released I tried it all and have had great success with each type and have not looked back since.

My Bolognese Recipe

This bolognese recipe is one that originally is from the Classic Italian Cook Book by Marcella Hazan, but I have tweaked it slightly so it is a little more like the bolognese sauce my mother makes - always a popular request for birthday dinners!

1 medium size onion, diced

1/2 medium sized carrot, grated

1/2 stick of celery, finely chopped

a good pinch or two of salt

a good grind of pepper and nutmeg 

500g beef mince

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or minced

1 glass of red wine, preferably the wine that you will be enjoying with your meal

400g tin of diced Italian tomatoes - Italian tomatoes are best

1 tablespoon of tomato paste - this is optional, my mother always puts a generous spoonful in as she like the intense tomato flavour it adds but this is entirely up to you

1 fresh sprig of rosemary

1 fresh sprig of sweet basil

1 fresh sprig of oregano
1 fresh bay leaf

1 small bunch of parsley, finely chop the leaves and the fine stalks only to finish off the sauce before serving

Gently fry the onion in some olive oil, celery and carrot and add a small pinch of salt at this point.  Fry until soft, then add your mince and brown slowly, breaking up the mince so that it is of a fine consistency with no lumps.  

Add your herbs and some more salt and a grind of pepper and a really good grind of nutmeg.

Add your garlic and fry a little before adding your wine.  Cook the wine  to allow the alcohol to cook off - you only need to simmer it for a little is this is enough.

Add your tinned tomatoes and if you like, add the tomato paste at this point.

Simmer the sauce for at least half an hour to allow all of the flavours to mingle and mellow.  I try and let this simmer for as long as possible and adding a little water as required to prevent the sauce from drying out.  
I find that when the sauce simmers for one and a half hours to two hours the flavours of the vegetables, herbs and the beef all mellow together and make the most delicious and satisfying bolognese sauce.

Brands of Gluten-free Pasta:

San Remo

http://www.sanremo.com.au

Orgran

http://www.orgran.com/

Buon Tempo

http://www.buontempo.com.au/index.htm