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Gluten-Free Homemade Pasta

I love pasta. I didn't really care for it before I began my gluten-free life, but the number of items that I formerly disliked and now crave with a passion is quite endless. Pasta is just the tip of the iceberg. It's like reverse psychology - hated it before. Can't have it now. So now I crave it with a passion.

When I stood in the health food store after my celiac diagnosis, the only gluten-free pasta I could find was made from brown rice. It was, in a word - gross. Slimy and slick, each strand brought to mind strips of cooked blubber and turned my stomach. It didn't matter whether it was cooked al dente or if I followed the directions to a T. The end result was gag-inducing. To this day, I will not eat brown rice pasta. The trauma of past experience has ruined me forever.

With the brown price being a disaster, I next tried corn pasta. While this was far superior to the brown rice version, it had an odd flavor and as I have issues with corn, it just didn't sit well with me. However, as I was determined to enjoy pasta, I suffered with the gastric side-effects and strong flavor and ate corn pasta a few times each year. I figured that "normal" pasta was a thing of the past. It was a few years before I stumbled across a potato and white rice blend pasta and was able to finally enjoy an almost-normal tasting pasta dish.

Joy.

But in the back of my mind, there was a constant niggling... if these companies could make pasta from rice and potato flour, it stood to reason that I could as well. I had made pasta quite frequently in my gluten days and I was hopeful that one day I could conquer gluten-free pasta making.

One day while wandering around Linens and Things, I found a Kitchen Aid pasta attachment set on clearance. Did I need a more clear sign? No. I purchased the set and set out to create pasta nirvana.

I figured I would end up doing dozens of batches before I succeeded but to my utter astonishment, my first batch was sheer perfection. Apart from tiny pieces that were the result of ragged edges (lesson learned there), with just a few eggs and some flour I was able to successfully create a delicious batch of fettucini. My pasta-loving-husband sucked down his serving and declared it a major success. It tasted just like the pasta I used to make back in the gluten days and there was no weird aftertaste. No odd texture. He adored it.

Making pasta is very easy. No really, it is! It requires just 3-4 ingredients and can be done in just over an hour. Gluten-free flour, eggs, olive oil (optional), salt. That's it. You can also add a variety of spices and vegetables to make spinach pasta, sun-dried tomato pasta, basil pasta, etc. That is for another day - this post focuses on the joy of the plain old egg pasta. No fancy additions.

You start by making a mound of your flour with a hole in the middle. Sprinkle a few pinches of salt and then crack the eggs into the center hole along with a bit of olive oil. Use your hands to combine the flour and work it and the eggs/oil into a dough. This takes a bit of time, maybe 5 minutes or so, but it's not difficult to do and I find it very relaxing. Work the mixture until it comes together into a ball. Something like a giant batch of silly putty. The end result should not be sticky - if it is, add a touch more flour and work it in.

Cover the main ball with a damp rag - you don't want it to dry out while you're working with it. Tear off a piece the size of a golf ball and roll it into a smooth ball. Stick this through the roller of your pasta machine (I'm using an attachment on my Kitchen Aid. You can also use a manual hand-crank model such as the Atlas) a few times. The more it is played with and rolled out, the stretchier and more elastic it becomes. I typically run each piece through 10-12 times, folding in half after each run and sticking that through before folding in half and running it through again.

Once you have it to the desired thickness (I prefer 3 on my KA attachment - this makes for a strand of pasta that has a nice bite and chew to it..) lay each strip on a flat surface and cover with a damp cloth. This keeps the dough from drying out while you press the remainder of the batch. At this time I also trim the ends and sides so the piece has straight sides. Uneven edges will result in bits of pasta flaking off when you run it through the cutter.

Once all the dough is rolled out into strips, it's time to cut it. You can do this with a kitchen knife or you can run it through your machine. Because I cannot cut a straight line if my life depended on it, I prefer to use my attachment and get a perfect, even cut on all my strands. If you're handy with a knife and have the ability to cut straight, well, I envy you and there is no need for you to fiddle with a cutting attachment. Consider yourself fortunate...

After the pasta has been cut, lightly sprinkle with flour and toss it a bit to coat each strand before lying it flat to dry. Or, if you're going to be boiling it right away, you can gently toss them into a loose pile. Watch it though - they will stick if left in this position for too long.

Boil in a large pot with a few Tbl of olive oil and a dash of salt. Your gluten-free homemade pasta needs just a few minutes to cook, 4-6, depending on how chewy you like it. I typically boil mine for 5 minutes. This gives a delightful bite that dried pasta simply can never emulate. Be sure to get a rolling boil before adding the pasta and stir a few times to break up any strands that may be sticking together.

Strain and serve immediately. This is fabulous with just olive oil and a few sun-dried tomatoes. Or olive oil and a few cloves of garlic, diced. Or just plain butter. Of course, it's also delicious with marinara and grated cheese. Quite simply, this is fabulous regardless of how you serve it.

Homemade Gluten-Free Pasta

serves 4, generously

3 cups gluten-free flour

6 eggs

2 Tbl olive oil, optional

1 tsp salt

Toss flour with salt and pour into a mound on parchment paper, your countertop, or a rolling mat.

Crack 3 eggs into center and add olive oil if desired. Begin to mix with your hands, adding additional eggs as needed to create a smooth ball of dough that is similar to silly putty.

Knead on a flat surface, no flour needed, dough should not be sticky, for 5 minutes until ball is smooth.

Follow directions above...

Enjoy your labor. Gluten-free pasta is so easy to make, anyone can do it. And it's much cheaper than the store-bought dried version.

Gluten-Free Chicken Chili

As the fall chill slowly creeps into the air, my thoughts turn to comfort foods. And the number one comfort food this family enjoys? Soup... except for me. I don't typically eat soups. They tend to heat me up to such an extent that I'm left feeling as though I'm running a marathon in the Sahara. So my enjoyment of soups must wait until the fall and winter.

But now that this time is upon us, I can once again partake of my hubby and son's most favorite of all foods. The common soup. And yet so very uncommon - such a wide diversity of ingredients and types of soups that one can create. Chicken noodle soup. Chilis. Minestrone. Tomato soup. Bisques. And the list goes on.

On the menu for tonight - chili. My freezer is stocked with whole chickens thanks to a sale at the local grocery store last month and my pantry is bursting with beans and tomatoes (oh, the endless joys of coupon clipping and combining those with double coupons and a store sale... but that is for another blog...) so it was just a moment's thought as to what type of chili to make. Chicken Chili, of course.


I like using a crockpot to slow cook my chilis and soups. It doesn't scorch or burn and the smell of soup wafting through the house as the afternoon sun moves across the floor and the day lengthens is well, simply fabulous. And it makes my boys come from their perspective hidey holes (ie: the bedroom game station and the office), sniff the air, and ask plaintively when they might expect to eat. Ah, the joy.

As with the previous soup, this is a recipe that is naturally gluten-free. Don't waste your money on those chili packets from the store. Simple seasonings and the use of onions and garlic will create a chili far better than one of those packets could ever hope to grace.

Gluten-Free Chicken Chili
serves 4-6, generously

1 whole chicken
tomatoes
beans (kidney, black, white, navy, etc)
1/4 cup GF chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
3/4 cup chopped onion
few Tbl chopped garlic

optional toppings
sour cream
grated cheese
bacon bits!

Place chicken in large pot and cover with water. Boil until meat falls from bone. Remove from heat, pour into a colander, let cool until you can pick the meat off the carcass without scorching your fingertips. Set meat aside and discard bones.

The remainder of the dish is really make-it-as-you-like-it. There is no wrong way or one correct way to make a delicious pot of chili. I will give you my personal batch but please feel free to tweak this wildly.

Place the following ingredients into a crockpot: 1 can of tomato sauce, 2 cans of diced tomatoes, 4 cans of beans (including liquid - your choice of the type(s) you'd like to use), salt, chili powder, pepper, onions, garlic, and the chicken meat. Stir to blend and then cook for 4+ hours on low heat for proper flavor melding and build-up of dinner-anticipation of your family members.

Top with ingredients of your choosing and enjoy!

Gluten-Free Chicken Tortilla Soup

What to make for dinner? Let's see what's on hand... whole frozen chicken. Few cans of tomatoes and tomato sauce. Canned corn. Several jars of Pace Picante sauce (purchased for next to nothing on a double coupon/store sale combo). Cheddar cheese. Sour cream. Tortilla chips. Rice.

Chicken tortilla soup, baby! This spicy blend of vegetables & tomatoes & chicken is easy to make, deliciously yummy, and a staple comfort food in our house. It's also a recipe that doesn't require any special instructions to make it gluten-free. Canned veg, tomatoes, chicken are all naturally gluten-free.




I like to use my own home-canned tomatoes. There is nothing like using the sweet tomatoes from your own garden or the local farmer's market to create summer in the middle of cold, rainy weather.

I'm off to enjoy my soup. Sans tortilla strips for my bowl - I don't like the crunch. But lots of sour cream and cheese. Yummy!

Gluten-Free Chicken Tortilla Soup
serves 4-6, generously

1 whole chicken
2 cans corn (or 6 ears or 1 frozen bag)
2 cans stewed tomatoes
3/4 cup rice
1 can tomato sauce
* 1 medium onion, finely minced
* 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
* jalapeno peppers, finely minced (optional)

optional toppings
grated cheese
sour cream
corn tortilla chips

Place chicken in large pot and cover with water. Boil until meat falls off the bone. Remove chicken from stock and let cool. Remove from bone and set aside. Save stock.

In crock pot place 4 cups reserved stock, corn (using fresh corn? cut kernels off ears), tomatoes, tomato sauce, rice, onions, garlic, peppers (to taste).

Cook on high heat for 1-2 hours, until rice is fully cooked.

Top with shredded cheese, sour cream, corn tortillas as desired. Enjoy.

* Cheater method: leave out onion, garlic, peppers and pour in a jar of salsa. Quick and easy.

Like it super spicy? Heat it up with hot pepper sauce as desired. Caliente!

Fun with Gluten!

The other day hubby and I took in the hit movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. While definitely NOT gluten-free, this movie was nevertheless, a ton of fun. In fact, if you're gluten-intolerant, this is the most fun you'll have with gluten. Guaranteed.

Where else can you enjoy soft and squishy hot dog buns, giant frosted donuts, massive pancakes with syrup, a tornado of spaghetti and meatballs, crunchy chicken strips, golden brown toast, or a jumbo cheeseburger - all chock full of gluten? I haven't enjoyed a cheeseburger or plate of spaghetti this much since prior to going gluten-free.

I do enjoy a good cartoon or family movie and this latest one was no exception. The animation was amazing, the characters well-drawn, and the entire scenery was lush and vibrant.

It was a real surprise to find that an allergy to peanuts was included in the dialogue and that it was an important aspect of the overall plot. Now if the character had just been a celiac or allergic to wheat, that would have been perfection! But just bringing even humorous attention to an allergy is a bonus in my book.

Of course, the monkey stole the show.. "Steve! Steve! Gummy bears!" and his antics had us in fits of giggles throughout the movie.

All in all, though filled with one gluten-containing treat after another, this movie was one trip into glutenirvana that I really enjoyed.

We'll definitely be purchasing this one when it comes out on DVD. And now I'm off to eat a slice of toast. Gluten-free, of course.

Yum.

Gluten-Free Pizza Crust (mix recipe)

When it came to creating a pizza crust recipe, I wanted something that would emulate what I remember "real" pizza being like. Thick, chewy, soft crust with a bit of bend when you lift the slice from the pizza pan.

I'm not a big fan of crisp crust. I like the hearty crusts that have some substance to them. Chewy crusts that you can dip into pizza sauce or garlic butter. Yum.

And that's what I was able to create. This recipe is super simple and even the most pizza-challenged baker will be able to easily and quickly whip up a fabulous pizza.

Gluten-Free Pizza Crust Recipe
Makes 1 - 16” deep-dish pizza or 2 - 16” thin crust pizzas

3 1/2 cups gluten-free flour
1 tsp salt
4 tsp sugar
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1 yeast packet (2 1/2 tsp of yeast)
4 eggs
1/4 cup oil (olive oil recommended)
hot water

Blend dry ingredients in large mixing bowl and set aside.

In 2 cup measure beat together 4 eggs, 1/4 cup vegetable oil, and enough HOT water so liquid mixture measures 2 cups. Add to dry ingredients and mix on low until ingredients are blended.

Beat for 5 minutes on high speed. Dough will be thick and sticky.

Coat pizza pan(s) with 1 Tbl oil (olive oil is best). Spoon dough onto pan and liberally oil hands with additional 1-2 Tbl oil. Using hands, pat down dough until it covers entire surface. If it starts to stick to your hands or fingers, add a bit more oil.

Add toppings as desired and bake at 410F for 13-18 minutes. Let sit 10 minutes after removing from oven. Slice and serve. Yum!

The Mandolin Incident

This is a mandolin. It has a sharp blade and easily and quickly slices fruits and vegetables into uniform size.

One mandolin minus...


To push the vegetables down the mandolin, you are supposed to use this pusher/guide thing. It has little prongs to firmly grasp the food and you can safely run this over the blade until the veggie is completely sliced.

One pusher/guide..


Plus the dressings above ... EQUALS


This.

I probably can get by without the tip of my right ring finger. Typing might be a bit of a challenge even after this bulky bandage comes off, but as that finger isn't super important, like a thumb or index finger, living with a scooped out finger tip should be just fine. Right?

I am a certified kitchen klutz.

If it's hot, I'll burn myself.

If it's sharp, I'll cut myself.

If it has a round blade, I'll try my darndest to sever a majory artery or an entire finger - just from cleaning it after slicing bread.

And if it's a mandolin, I'll decide not to use the pusher/guide and take off chunks of flesh each and every time I use it.

Last night was fish fry with thin sliced deep-fried potatoes. I was on the third spud when I lost concentration -- and the tip of my finger. It took 40 minutes to get the bleeding stopped enough so we could bandage and wrap it up and I could get back into the kitchen to finish the dinner. Of course, the mandolin was put away for the night, the potatoes that were already sliced went into the garbage (there was a, uh, well, it wasn't all potato in that bowl any longer) and out came the food processor to finish the job.

My poor husband has put his foot down. No more mandolin if I don't use the pusher/guide. He's had to clean up far too many of my "kitchen incidents." Between the knives, the bread slicer (affectionately known as the "thumb slicer"), and now this wretched mandolin, he's something like a first-responder EMT now. As you can see from the dressings above, we are prepared as not a month goes by w/out some near-catastrophic kitchen injury.

And so, because this is my 4th mandolin injury in the past 6 weeks, I'm inclined to agree with him - from this point forward I shall endeavor to remember to use that pusher/guide.

I believe that this is the closest I've come to actually requesting a ride to the ER. I'm not a big run-to-doctor type of person so when I slice and dice and burn and gouge myself, I usually just suck it up and apply pressure until bleeding stops. This one actually scared me...

To all my readers, if you are thinking of purchasing or using a mandolin, I encourage you to seriously reconsider. Or at the very least, follow not my example and use the blasted pusher/guide!