Explore the Pasta-bilities

When I tell people I'm gluten intolerant, they often say that I must miss bread and pasta. I don't miss either. Thankfully, there's Udi's brand of whole grain bread. As for pasta, I haven't had to give that up either. Gluten free pasta is a little trickier to work with, and there are some that I have not had success with. I typically use DeBoles brown rice pasta. It's got a good texture and taste, and I like that it's a whole grain product. I once tried their multi-grain pasta (rice, quinoa and amaranth) but it absolutely fell apart into tiny pieces in my hand when I took it out of the box. I was very disappointed with the product and wrote to DeBoles to tell them about the product. They were very gracious and sent me coupons for free pasta which I really appreciated. I also use Tinkyada brand of pasta which holds up to multiple heatings. I also sometimes make my own gluten free pasta, which I'll talk about in another post.

When I make the brown rice pasta, I find that it needs to be stirred constantly while it's cooking. I usually enlist Eddie's assistance with that, so I can concentrate on what's going to go over the pasta. After it's cooked and tested for an al dente consistency, we rinse it thoroughly in hot water. It's very starchy, much more than wheat pasta.

Here is my favorite pasta recipe that I created. I'm always happy that there's leftovers because having it once is never enough! I hope you make it and enjoy! Keep in mind I'm not a professional recipe writer, so all I can do is tell you how I make this recipe.

Shrimp and Vegetables in White Wine Sauce
Ingredients:
1-1/4 pound peeled & deveined raw shrimp
3 small zucchini, cut into julienne strips
3 small summer squash, cut into julienne strips
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 shallot, chopped
1 cup white wine
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespooons extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
brown rice pasta
Parmesan cheese

Setting up the mis en plas:
Take the tails off the shrimp and set in fridge until ready to cook. Julienne the zucchini and summer squash. Zest a lemon, then cut in half and juice. Chop or crush garlic cloves, chop shallot and set aside with garlic. Turn oven to 200 degrees. Have a large serving bowl ready.

Pasta:
Get a big pan of water boiling for pasta. It takes about 15 minutes to cook the pasta, which is about the same amount of time to make the veggies and shrimp. It's really handy to have a second person in the kitchen to man the pasta while the other works on the veggies and shrimp.

Vegetables and Shrimp:
Place butter and olive oil in a pan on medium-high heat. Saute zucchini and summer squash until done. Place in serving bowl and put in warmed oven. Turn burner to medium heat, add more butter and olive oil if needed. Saute shrimp in single layers, careful not to overcrowd the pan. The shrimp does not take long to cook at all, maybe about a minute on each side. Turn shrimp and cook on the other side. As soon as the first batch is done, place in warm oven on top of veggies. Continue to cook the remainder of the shrimp and then add to veggies.

Finishing Touches:
Add the chopped shallot and garlic to the pan and saute briefly. Garlic can burn fast, so only cook this for a few seconds. Carefully add the cup of white wine. If you want, you can move the pan away from the heat to add the wine. Then, add the lemon juice and zest. The wine and lemon juice will deglaze the pan. Pour this mixture over the shrimp and veggies.

Let's eat!
After your pasta is done, rinse thoroughly with hot water. Plate the pasta and shrimp/veggies mixture, top with Parmesan cheese. Enjoy!