Gluten-Free Pasta with Broccoli, Feta and Puttanesca
This recipe is a modified version of one from Waitrose.
I basically changed the pasta for Doves Farm gluten free penne and doubled the quantity, so it served four. It fact, I miscounted as there were five and a half for dinner, but it stretched OK with the addition of a salad.
The ingredients were.
- 100g feta, cubed
- 300g of Doves Farm gluten free penne pasta
- 400g purple sprouting broccoli, cut into short lengths. I actually used broccoli florets cut into small pieces, as I bought the wrong sort. But you can use cauliflowers as well. Perhaps try them mixed.
- 180g jar Waitrose Cooks’ Ingredients Puttanesca Mix
- 50g pine nuts, toasted
- Grated zest of lemon
The method was as follows.
- I cooked the pasta according to the instructions on the packet in a large saucepan, until it was just tender. It was then drained and kept in the pan.
- The broccoli was cooked at the same time. But don’t stew it.
- Add the broccoli, feta, puttanesca mix, pine nuts and lemon zest to the pasta. Toss all together thoroughly and serve on warmed serving plates. I did cook it for perhaps a minute on the low hob of the AGA.
As I said earlier, I served it with a green salad.
I was the only coeliac at the table, but no-one complained about the pasta. So perhaps, gluten-free pasta isn’t always that bad.
I do think though, that of all gluten-free penne works best. After all Carluccio’s serve this type on their gluten-free menu. I think too, that it worked extremely well with the broccoli in this recipe.
Spring Onion Chicken
The basis for this recipe comes from Group Recipes, although I’ve modified it slightly to make it gluten-free.
The ingredients were.
- 2 chicken breasts
- 2 tablespoons of gluten-free soy sauce – I used Life from MH Foods.
- 3 stalks of spring onion
- some root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
- a clove of garlic, crushed
- 1 tablespoon of dry sherry
- 2 teaspoons of Demerara sugar
- 1/4 cup of chicken stock
The original used rice wine, but I substituted dry sherry as I had a bottle to get rid of. Does anybody drink sherry these days?
The method was as follows.
- Cut the chicken into pieces. Marinate with dark soy sauce and set aside for about 15 minutes.
- Heat up 2 tbsp of vegetable oil in a wok. I used a large flat frying pan, as AGAs don’t do woks well. While doing so, cut spring onion in the bias into one and a half inch pieces. Finely chop the ginger.
- Stir fry the garlic and chicken until chicken changes colour. Set aside on a hot plate.
- Stir fry the ginger and spring onions until fragrant. Add chicken, sherry, sugar and chicken stock. Mix well, cover and allow to braise over low heat for about 10 minutes.
I served it with rice.
Covent Garden Risotto
I bought one a Covent Garden Risotto in Waitrose last week. They seem to be gluten-free.
I had it for lunch today.
Covent Garden Risotto
It tasted one hell of a lot better, than it looked. I’ll try one of the other varieties next time.
Eat Breakfast, Lose Weight
I had my B12 injection on Friday. The nurse took my blood pressure and it was 120/70, which I’m told is good for a man of my age. This chart says that I’m in the right area. But she also said that I looked thin and when she weighed me, I had lost a couple of kilos since August.
Strangely, I am not eating less, but I have changed what I eat. I used to skip breakfast and now I usually eat the same mixture of gluten-free Eat Natural for Breakfast, with yoghurt and two teaspoonfuls of clear honey. I prefer the raisins, almonds, mixed seeds and crispy rice version of Eat Natural.
Eat Natural for Breakfast
Perhaps what they say is right. Eat breakfast and you lose weight. I may be snacking less.
Manor House Inn, Carterway Heads
The other great advantage of the A68 is that it is not a main road and inhabited by crap, boring service areas. There are good pubs everywhere.
I was driving the road around lunchtime and a sign informed me a pub called the Manor House Inn, was coming up. The sign said good food and real ales and as many coeliacs and other allergy sufferers will tell you, real ale pubs are often sympathetic to special diets.
I entered and looked at the special menu on the wall.
Specials Menu, Manor House Inn
I liked the look of the seared venison. I asked the landlord, Neil Oxley, whether it was gluten-free and he said he’d ask the chef. The reply was that the chef would make it so. The pub also had some proper, Weston’s cider. Not as good as my local Aspall, but very safe for coeliacs.
It was one of the best pub lunches I’d had outside of places I know very well in a long time. A lot of coeliacs like their vegetables and I had a choice of five; potatoes, carrots, swede, cabbage and broccoli. All were excellent, as was the venison.
I asked the landlord’s wife, Emma, if everything was local and she said yes.
This is what good pub food should be about. I shall go back again, the next time I’m in the area.
The pub is also a good excuse to burn up the A68. I might even stay there, as the pub has rooms for the night.
Manor House Inn, Carterway Heads
Rick Stein
Over the New Year, I went to Rick Stein‘s restaurant in Padstow.
It was expensive, but it was certainly worth it.
Their policy on gluten-free is very simple. They mark up the menu with what is gluten free.
Rick Stein's Gluten Free Menu
Note the detail. They have both normal and gluten-free soy sauce. So they are very prepared for trouble-makers like me.
Although we didn’t try any puddings, there was a good selection for coeliacs too.
The Puddings
Next time I’m in Padstow, I’ll go again. After all it costs a lot to get to Cornwall, so why shouldn’t you indulge.
Cadbury
I’m sad that that iconic British company, Cadbury, is being sold to the Americans.
There are two main reasons and both are selfish.
I buy a lot of Green and Black‘s chocolate because I know it’s provenance and can trust that what they say on the packet. I really don’t trust Kraft to keep the standards of this brand and hope that someone buys it from them.
But the main reason is that Cadbury are very correct about which products are gluten-free and it is just a quick check on the web site. In fact over the last few years, more products have gone that way. Can I trust Kraft, from the country of gluten-in-everything to not put the evil maltodextrin in everything to save money?
I doubt it.
So yet again, coeliacs may well have less and less chance to buy something sensible to eat on the move.
Musings on Gluten-Free Pasta
As a coeliac, I can’t have normal pasta, but there are some fairly good gluten-free ones around.
I do get Dr. Schar‘s pasta on free on prescription (I’m 62, so age does have some advantages!), but I’m not that good at cooking it, so it tends to be a bit hard. As I’ve now got the hang of cooking rice, in either the quick Uncle Ben form or the more traditional one, I tend to avoid cooking pasta.
However, I have got a liking for Carluccio’s the gluten-free pasta on their menu that is suitable for coeliacs. Just click the link on the page indicated. I had some of the Giardiniera today in their caffe in St. Pancras Station and it was excellent. I just wish that they would change the gluten-free menu more often and also do some liver too!
But hey, the pasta is always worth waiting for, even if it takes a few minutes more. Does that explain my hard pasta?
The interesting thing though is that Carluccio’s seem to do only one type of gluten-free pasta with different sauces. And that is penne!
Could it be that gluten-free pasta comes better in the thicker varieties?
Recently, I’ve tried cooking some of the Doves Farm gluten-free penne and that was a lot better. Also a friend has cooked me one her special lasagna using Dr. Schar‘s pasta and that was better than excellent.
I’m no cook and I wonder if anybody has any ideas.
Grilled Pepper and Sausage Penne
This is one of what Waitrose call an Everyday Recipe. That’s a bit naff, but the Everyday tag seems to be working for them.
I modified it to make it fully gluten-free and my version used the following ingredients.
- A pack of 6 Musks gluten-free sausages.
- 280g Cooks’ Ingredients grilled pepper in olive oil
- 1 smalll essential Waitrose onion, finely chopped. It might have been one of Sainsbury’s.
- 400g can essential Waitrose plum tomatoes in natural juice
- ½ x 25g pack fresh basil leaves, shredded
- Dove’s Farm gluten-free penne
The method was as follows.
- Cut the sausages into thick slices. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil from the peppers in a large pan and add the onion. Cook over a medium heat for 3 minutes until softened. Add the sausages and brown on all sides.
- Drain the peppers from the oil and add them to the pan. Cook for 2 minutes then add the tomatoes, breaking them up with a spoon. Season and simmer for 15 minutes until the sausages are cooked through and the sauce is thickened. Stir in the shredded basil.
- Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to pack instructions until just tender. Drain and toss with the pepper sauce. Serve with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
It was good.
The Grapes of the Devil
This was the description of brussel sprouts on one television program over Christmas.
I don’t agree, as I like my sprouts.
The Anonymous Widower 