Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Gluten Free Pasta Verde, Homemade

Red & Green - this was my Christmas dinner.

 This is an adaption of the previous recipe that I posted on homemade GF pasta. It basically subs pureed spinach for some of the egg, and ends up being bright green! The taste doesn't change very much, so it's still good with a variety of sauces. I've preferred to keep it simple, and top it with a few grape tomatoes sauteed in olive oil, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper.

While we're on the subject of olive oil, I highly recommend Trader Joe's Spanish Olive Oil. It is fragrant and rich, not at all bitter, and everything that an EVOO should be! Get it.

I used my Cuisinart pasta maker for this again. I've tried it with the fettuccine dye, as well as the angel hair one. Worked great with both!

When I've made this, I've done a double recipe, and bagged the leftovers to feed myself for the next 10 dinners or so.  Below is the doubled version, because it's easiest to sub the spinach for one whole egg. To make less, I would sub the weight of one egg yolk for equal weight of spinach puree.

Angel hair extruding.
THE RECIPE: (feeds ~8) - (or more, if you're me)

6 oz garbanzo bean flour
6 oz millet flour
6 oz potato starch OR tapioca starch/flour
2 tsp psyllium powder
2 pinch nutmeg
2 tsp salt                           -----> combine dry ingredients (mix them in bowl of pasta maker)

1 L egg
8 L egg yolks*
5 oz fresh spinach leaves    -----> blend eggs and spinach until spinach is pureed. Slowly add to dry mixture and blend.

1 tbs oil (maybe)
1 tbs water (maybe)          -----> after your egg/spinach mixture is fully incorporated into the dry ingredients, evaluate the consistency of your dough.  It should be naturally clumping into walnut-sized chunks. (Although the moisture of the spinach may make it ball a bit more than usual- that is okay.)  If the dough resembles cornmeal, it is too dry.  If this is the case, add up to 1 tbs oil, and re-evaluate. This should be all you need- however, if you find it is still too dry, add up to 1 tbs water.  Get those walnut-ish chunks, one way or another.

Then, follow the instructions on your pasta maker to extrude the noodles. You should also be able to do this by hand-- google elsewhere for detailed instructions on how to do that.

Cook in a very large pot of boiling water for just a few minutes.  Fresh pasta cooks VERY quickly-- and overcooking it will make the noodle structure and shape fall apart. (aka, still tastes good, but looks crummy.)  It always finishes more quickly than I expect!

Top with some olive oil, salt/pepper, or your favorite sauce. Enjoy!

Fettucine in the stew pot!

















Fettuccine, just about to be cooked.























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* STAY TUNED for the dessert that is the PERFECT PAIR to make with or soon after this pasta...... because it uses 8 egg whites! So, it's pretty much a requirement that you make them one after another.  Just don't explode from deliciousness overdoes when you do.


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