Pasta - food of champions!

I have always been a big pasta fan so when we discovered that my darling husband couldn't eat wheat anymore I was worried how we'd do with out it.

I've tried vegetable substitutes, the uncurled skins of leeks make a really nice lasagna and courgette cut into fine ribbons tastes fine to me and is great for you if you are on a diet but to be honest my family didn't really take to it. (Actually that's an understatement, I think DH called courgette 'devils food' and the kids called it green worms).

Enter 'gluten-free pasta'. It looks like pasta and it tastes like pasta and as long as all you want out of pasta is sheets for lasagna or piped shapes to pour sauce on it is brilliant. Generally regular dried pasta is made just from Durum Wheat Semolina - do not be confused, that is just one ingredient however it is worth noting that the three parts to the name can be used on their own and some manufacturers of processed foods will use the durum or the semolina part to disguise the fact that their product is full of wheat. 
Gluten-free pasta is usually made from rice flour and/or maize flour possibly with the addition of an emulsifier. 

You can get gluten free pasta in a variety of shapes but the ones on supermarket shelves are usually either large sheets for lasagna or cannelloni, pene (quills) or fusilli (twists), you can even get tri-coloured, however 'fresh' gluten free pasta, egg g-f pasta and stuffed g-f pasta are a very rare find indeed. If you are desperate for fresh, or stuffed you might want to try making your own, search Google if you like or head straight to http://glutenfreegirl.com/gluten-free-fresh-pasta/ and scroll down a long way to find her recipe and technique.

Who is it suitable for?

Most people! It's vegetarian and vegan, has no egg (usually) and the ingredients of corn and rice are usually thought of as low allergy foods so it is tollerated by most people. Gluten free pasta is slightly less calorific than 'regular' (white) dried pasta but more calorific than wholewheat pasta and generally has less sugar and fat than either regular or wholewheat pasta. I wouldn't recommend changing to gluten-free pasta just to lose weight, lets face it 355kcal per 100g is still pretty calorific, if you have to keep the calories down head straight for the ribboned vegetables. If the g-f pasta has extra ingredients that might boost the fibre content (for example psyllium husk) then you should check this is OK before serving anyone with Crohn's or colitus to check it's not too much for them.

Gluten-free pasta is much more expensive than regular pasta, basically as well as making a tidy profit the companies are trying to claw back the investment they made in research to develop the product (trust me, only a few years back not only was it hard to find this product but it also had a tendency to either fall completely apart or go like leather). It is a great 'inclusive food' as almost everyone can eat it (even if some might have to keep the portion size small) and when it's cooked well most people can't tell the difference anyway. However it doesn't cook quite the same as your regular pasta...

Top tips for cooking gluten free pasta.

• Get a very BIG pan at least one size bigger than you might have used for the same amount of 'regular' pasta.
• Boil as much water in it as you safely can.
• Add your dried gluten-free pasta. Start your stop watch! (Each type of pasta has it's own cooking time, use it as a guide setting your stop-watch to 1minute less).
• Quickly add a little oil and watch it like a hawk.

Do NOT add any salt, salt latches on to the outside of the g-f pasta forming an almost in penetrable barrier to the water stopping the inside going soft and instead turning your pasta into edible leather.

• The moment it starts to boil turn the heat down to maintain a very gentle boil. If you're not cooking on gas you may need to lift the pan off the heat for a moment. Failure to prevent boiling over will result in a glue-like substance spreading quickly across you cooker top and setting like, well like glue really.
• A quarter of the way through your cooking time give it a gentle but thorough stir to stop it sticking together.
• Keep watching it, keep it boiling gently but never let it boil over...
• As soon as your timer goes off test a piece by biting it. It should be slightly 'al dente', do not let your pasta go soft or over cook, g-f pasta is very unforgiving and will just fall to pieces. If it's not ready keep the boil going and check every 30 seconds.
• If you just HAVE to have salty pasta add your salt now and gently stir.
• Drain. As I said g-f pasta is rather unforgiving and does not have the structural integrity of it glutenous brother so if you can drain it in the pan (our pans have deep lids with holes in the sides to allow for this) without tipping it into a colander then so much the better. (Don't bother with rinsing, unless you just want to gently pour freshly boiled water through the colander or sieve.)
• Serve!

 

Would you like a sauce to go with it?

Believe it or not I've already given you one simple sauce - Simple Lentil Soup!  Just reduce the amount of stock from 450ml down to about 75ml and hey presto, Simple Lentil Pasta Sauce! If tomatoes will cause a problem one solution is to grate a few carrots and add some carrot juice or other (tomato free) vegetable juice and use these instead of tinned tomatoes.

Want another one?

Really, really simple pasta sauce.

1 finely chopped onion
A small splodge of oil
1 can of chopped tomatoes
A pinch of dried oregano (cilantro) 

Gently fry your onion in the oil (I've said this before but do buy fresh onion and cut your own to reduce the amounts of sulphates you might be sensitive to.)
Add your can of chopped tomatoes and dried oregano and continue to gently simmer for about 10 minutes. (Again to reduce other contaminants as well as stomach irritating sulphates try an organic sulphate free brand like Suma.)

It's really easy to add veg and other flavourings to this sauce, add them to the onions and continue frying until they start to turn soft then add your tomatoes and oregano. A splash of sherry before the toms will make a nice sweet sauce, a splash of red wine will add to the richness (but do keep an eye out for those pesky sulphates and if serving vegans or vegetarians check it is suitable for them too). If you want to add garlic chop it really fine and add it with the tomatoes to preserve the health benefits which frying will remove. 


So why is pasta the food of champions? Because my good friend and 'oh-my-god!'-parent to my girls eats it when carb-loading before a big cycle race and to quote my eldest daughter,

"Aunty Ca-waul always wins doesn't she Mummy?!"

Yes she does (nearly). Aunty C hasn't yet developed a gluten intolerance but if she did she wouldn't be out of place, lots of athletes are finding that by cutting gluten out of their diet they actually perform better. Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray are both now reported to be following gluten free diets, the Garmin-Transitions pro-cycling team apparently did the Tour de France on a gluten free diet and a number of gold medal winning Olympians including American swimmer Dana Vollmer were also gluten free. Maybe my girls will be medal winning gymnasts or swimmers too one day? And if they are then I know a gluten free diet wont be a change or a challenge for them.

Off now for a healthy 'championship' walk around the block! xx