Fresh GF Pasta

On Friday, I had a little shopping adventure — at Whole Foods.  The closest Canadian Whole Foods is over 4 hours away, so I decided to check out the one in Troy, Michigan, which is only 30 minutes away.  What I was really looking for is finding yummy stuff from the Gluten Free Bakehouse.  (They don’t supply the Canadian stores.)  I must have looked like a starved, strung-out lunatic in that store.  Minus that fact that I ran over 2 people with my cart (seriously), I was grabbing every gluten-free item and tossing it in my car.  Like it was going to spoil within seconds, left on the shelf!  I was in my gluten free glory!

And then I saw fresh GF pasta!!!  I was told it couldn’t be done!  But, yet here is was before my eyes.  Like an Easter miracle!  There were two types of gnocchi and a linguine.  With one reach, I grabbed all three packages.  I felt like I was looting the place! 

It’s by RP’s Pasta.  On their website, it doesn’t say anything about their gluten-free products.  But on the package it says ‘Gluten Free’ and it’s made with brown rice flour.  But for those very sensitive to gluten, it’s not made in a dedicated factory.  They also make evil wheat pasta.  I’m not that sensitive, so I decided to stuff my face with it!

My (Italian) mother-in-law makes fresh pasta pretty regularly and it’s like a 5 star hotel, while dry pasta is only a 3 star.  I was so excited about trying this pasta and so was my mother-in-law.  She gave me a fresh batch of wheat pasta so Dr. T and I ‘could have the same dinner.’  (Actually, I wasn’t even thinking about him, I just wanted to get to my kitchen!)

I was worried that all this ‘hype’ would let me down.  That the pasta would taste like wet cardboard dipped in Elmer’s glue.  Or like strings of gelatin sprinkled with salt.  But it didn’t.  It tasted like — pasta!  Real pasta.  Better than dried pasta.  Better than homemade fresh wheat pasta!  It was so good, that Dr. T actually eat out of my plate!  He kept eyeing my pasta reminding me how good it looked.  Like I’d forget!

Here is the sauce I made with it…

PASTA ALLA VODKA

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 pinch hot red pepper flakes

1 can diced tomatoes (I used the herbed one)

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1/2 tablespoon dried basil

5 tablespoons Vodka (As far as Vodka goes, Smirnoff Red Label isn’t expensive and is gluten-free. It is made from corn rather than wheat.)

1 cup cream

In a large skillet heat oil and butter.  Saute the onion until soft.  Add garlic and pepper flakes.  Cook on medium for two minutes.  Add tomato sauce, broth and oregano.  Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add vodka.  Simmer for another 10 minutes.   Add cream and heat through.  Serve over pasta.