In my not-so-humble opinion, there’s few summer foods better than the holy trinity of tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and basil. This combination, when made with flavorful homegrown or local tomatoes, is perfect served as a salad with a light drizzle of olive oil and vinegar. But why stop there? All summer long I put it on pasta, pizza, and sandwiches. (Heck, I even add bacon and call it a Waffle BLT.) Right now, however, gluten-free pasta with fresh tomatoes and basil has my heart.

Why am I smitten with it? Because…I made it for dinner last night and the taste is fresh in my memory. 🙂 If I’d just eaten a tomato, basil, mozzarella salad, I’d probably be proclaiming that to be my favorite. I’m sure you understand!

While you could make a tasty pasta dish in under 15 minutes by simply combining freshly cooked pasta with olive oil, tomatoes, mozzarella, and garlic. I’m going to suggest that you add about 30 minutes of unattended cooking time to make it an even better dish.

Let me explain.

Magic happens when you stir together tomatoes, basil, garlic, olive oil, olives, and a splash of olive brine and let it sit for at least 30 minutes.  (Magic as defined by tasty culinary happenings.) The garlic and basil infuse the oil with flavor and the salt from the olive brine draws some liquid out of the tomatoes. This leaves you with a really tasty, fresh pasta sauce.

When I make this recipe, I prepare the tomato-basil mixture and let it sit for 15 minutes before I bring the water to a boil for the pasta. (Here’s how to cook gluten-free pasta.) This timing means my tomatoes macerate for about 45 minutes, which I find to be just right. As with most things in life, you can have too much of a good thing. If the tomatoes sit for longer than an hour, they tend to get mushy. Who wants mushy tomatoes? No one. That’s who!

Ingredient and Preparation Notes

• Olive brine adds a salty-acidic tang to the pasta. If you don’t have two tablespoons of brine handy, replace it with two teaspoons of red wine vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon of coarse salt. Add this to the tomato mixture. Adjust with more vinegar and salt as your tastes dictate.
• Fresh mozzarella or fresh-style mozzarella is really a must for this dish. Dense, low moisture mozzarella, which is great on pizza, doesn’t have the taste or texture to compliment the tomatoes and basil. Look for freshly made mozzarella or buy a ball or BelGioioso or equivalent.
• Kalamata olives are recommended but most olives (with the exception of canned black olives) work well in this dish.
• To cut the basil, stack four or five basil leaves (face down, vein side up.) Roll the leaves into a tight roll (like you are rolling a cigar). Hold the roll together and carefully cut them into thin ribbons. Gently toss to separate the slices.
• For this recipe, I used Ronzoni gluten-free pasta. Jovial also works great. That said, use whatever you love. (Including fresh gluten-free pasta.)
• Reserve some of the pasta cooking liquid. If the pasta seems dry after you toss it with the tomatoes, add a splash of the hot pasta cooking liquid. The starch in the water coats the pasta and prevents it from sticking. (Don’t do this with tap water or you will have a pasta blob on your hands.)

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Gluten-Free Pasta with Tomatoes and Basil

If you don't have olive brine on hand, replace it with two teaspoons red wine vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt. Adjust to taste as needed.

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 4

Author GlutenFreeBaking.com (Elizabeth Barbone)

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced or put through a garlic press
• 1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
• 10 basil leaves, sliced into thin ribbons
• 1/4 cup kalmata olives, halved
• 2 tablespoons olive brine see note above
• 12 ounces gluten-free spaghetti
• 8 ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into bite-size pieces
• salt and pepper

Instructions

• Combine the olive oil and minced garlic in a medium bowl. Stir to combine. Add the tomatoes, basil, olives, and olive brine. Stir to combine. Allow to stand for 30 minutes to one hour. This allows the flavors to mingle.
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt generously. Add the spaghetti. Stir during the first few minutes of cooking to prevent the pasta from sticking. (Do not add oil to the pasta water.) Cook until tender.
• Carefully ladle out about 1/2 cup of pasta cooking water. Drain the pasta and return it to the cooking pot. Add the tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. Toss to combine. You want the mozzarella to soften slightly. If the pasta seems dry, add a little of the pasta cooking water. Adjust as needed.
• Taste. Add salt and pepper as needed. Serve.

The post Gluten-Free Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes and Basil appeared first on Gluten-Free Baking.

Gluten-Free Macaroni and Cheese: How a frozen dinner turned me into a fan.

Macaroni and cheese never grabbed me. Crazy, right? The few times I tried the American comfort classic, made with a cheddar sauce, I found it dry and unappealing. Then Stouffer’s happened.

Years ago, I watched a friend zap a pan of frozen Stouffer’s macaroni and cheese in the microwave. Like me, she generally prefers homemade to store bought. As she ate, I saw the appeal: the creaminess of the sauce. It looked AMAZING. In the name of food research, I swiped a forkful from her plate (I wasn’t gluten-free at the time.). My reaction? Well, thank goodness for willpower. It kept me from grabbing her plate, running off, and eating the whole thing in one quick go.

If a frozen macaroni and cheese achieved a creamy sauce, a homemade one could too, right?

But they never did. I tried several recipes. One recipe called for eggs in the sauce, making it more custard-like, while another used evaporated milk and half-and-half, creating a rich sauce that muted the flavor of the cheese. One version even used Velveeta, and the result was creamy but I didn’t like the flavor. Was it impossible to make a macaroni and cheese at home that was both flavorful and creamy?

Then, one day at the hairdresser (not kidding!), I flipped through an old copy of Cook’s Country magazine and saw a promising recipe for a creamy macaroni and cheese. Creamy, you say?

The amount of cheese in the casserole startled me a little. It called for….(wait for it) one and half pounds of cheese!  CAN YOU EVEN?!! Since there was more cheese than pasta (it used one pound of pasta) I worried it might be too rich but I decided to try it anyway. I converted it to gluten-free by replacing the wheat flour needed to thicken the sauce with sweet rice flour and the wheat pasta with brown rice pasta. Everything else I left the same.

As promised, the sauce, even after baking, stayed creamy.

Had I finally found the winning recipe? Yes! But this didn’t stop me from tinkering with it. One time I reduced the amount of whole milk and bumped up the chicken broth. Another time I swapped the ratio of Colby to Cheddar, using more Cheddar because I like its sharper flavor. Finally, because as much as I like macaroni and cheese, I don’t need a 9×13-inch pan of it; I reduced the recipe by half.

Finally, I’d found a gluten-free macaroni and cheese recipe I loved and boy, oh boy, was it creamy and dreamy!

Gluten-Free Macaroni and Cheese: How to Make It

This recipe starts with a cooked mixture of sweet rice flour and butter. This is called a roux. When you first add the flour to the butter, it will seize and get clumpy. This is totally normal. Just let the mixture do its thing while you do yours. And your thing is to stand their and stir. You want to cook the sweet rice flour until it turns a light shade of beige. This takes a minute or two. Don’t walk away from the pan or the flour-butter mixture will betray you and burn.

Once you’ve cooked the roux, it’s time to add the broth and milk. The roux thickens the second a little broth hits it. Add the broth in a slow and steady stream, whisking as you add the liquid. Do the same as you add the milk. The roux will relax and you’ll be left with a nice smooth sauce. Cook the mixture until it thickens a little. I love watching this happen!

As soon as the sauce thickens, add your grated cheese. Now, don’t add it all at once or it’ll clump and make you sad. You want to add a handful (about 1/2 cup) at a time. Stir the sauce gently after each addition and allow the cheese to melt into the sauce. If you stir the sauce too fast, the cheese might break and make the sauce oily. Don’t stress about this too much. If you go slow and steady, you’ll be fine. Add cheese, one handful at a time, until you’ve added all of it.

At this point, your pasta should be ready to drain and add to the sauce. If the pasta isn’t ready yet, reduce the heat under the cheese sauce to low and stir it occasionally while you wait. When the pasta’s ready, drain it, and stir the pasta into the sauce.

Transfer the macaroni and cheese to a 9×13-inch pan, sprinkle breadcrumbs over the top, and bake until bubbly.

Gluten-Free Macaroni and Cheese: Variations

Sauce: Replace the chicken broth with gluten-free vegetable broth for a vegetarian macaroni and cheese. If you want a rich sauce, omit the broth and use all milk; for a (slightly) lighter-tasting sauce, use reduced fat (2%) milk. Skim milk doesn’t work as well.

Pasta: When cooking the pasta, boil it until it’s al dente or it will overcook and become bloated and mushy in the casserole. Look for your pasta to be firm but yielding. If it crunches when you bite into it, cook it a little longer.

Cheese: The combination of cheddar and Colby provides great flavor and creaminess. If you prefer to use all cheddar or all Colby, go ahead. Or use any combination of the two.

Topping: You’ll sprinkle gluten-free breadcrumbs over the macaroni and cheese before baking. If you don’t have gluten-free breadcrumbs on hand, replace the breadcrumbs with grated Parmesan cheese.

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How to Make Gluten-Free Macaroni and Cheese

If you like a slightly less cheesy gluten-free macaroni and cheese, reduce the cheese from 12 ounces (total) to 8 ounces (total). Feel free to do this as you please, reducing either the Cheddar, the Colby, or both!

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 55 minutes minutes

Servings 8 to 10

Author Elizabeth Barbone GlutenFreeBaking.com

Ingredients

• 8 ounces gluten-free elbow macaroni
• 3 tablespoons butter (1 1/2 ounces; 42 grams)
• 1 clove garlic, minced or put through a garlic press
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons sweet rice flour (3/4 ounce; 21 grams)
• 1 1/4 cups chicken broth, homemade or reduced sodium (10 ounces; 283 grams)
• 1 cup whole milk (8 ounces; 226 grams)
• 8 ounces Cheddar cheese, grated
• 4 ounces extra sharp Colby cheese, grated
• 3 tablespoons cup dried gluten-free breadcrumbs
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

• Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 375°F.
• Fill a medium (3 quart) pot 3/4 full with water. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. When water reaches a boil, add one teaspoon salt and pasta. Stir frequently with a wooden spoon during the first few minutes of cooking. Set a colander in the sink drain the pasta.
• As soon as you start your pasta, begin your sauce. In a large (5 1/2 quart) pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add garlic and mustard. Cook, stirring constantly, until garlic is translucent, about one minute
• Switch to a wire whisk. Add sweet rice flour. Cook, whisking constantly, until thick and light brown, about three minutes.
• In a slow and steady steam, add chicken broth and milk. Whisk until mixture thickens. Cook until mixture is thick and beings to bubble. Add cheese, one handful at a time, until incorporated. Stir gently using a wooden spoon until cheese melts. Sauce should be smooth. Reduce heat to low.
• Check pasta. When it’s almost tender, drain and return to cooking pot.
• Add pasta to sauce. Stir to combine. Pour into an 8x8-inch baking pan. Sprinkle breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese evenly over the top of pasta.
• Bake until sauce is bubbling and edges are starting to turn golden brown, about or 25-30 minutes. Remove pan from oven and allow to cool for ten minutes before serving.

The post How to Make Gluten-Free Macaroni and Cheese appeared first on Gluten-Free Baking.

Gluten-Free Goulash (aka Gluten-Free American Chop Suey)

Years ago when I mentioned to my husband that I planned to make goulash for dinner, he thought I was making stew. Instead, I put a very American casserole on the table. The conversation that followed went something like this:

“What’s this?”

“It’s goulash.”

“No…no, it isn’t. It’s like a homemade version of, I don’t know, Hamburger Helper.”

Ah, culinary misunderstandings. As long as they don’t involve an allergen that could kill me, they’re usually funny and often enlightening. In the case of our goulash misunderstanding, Greg assumed I would be making the classic Hungarian stew and had never heard the macaroni and beef casserole I made referred to as goulash. I’m still not sure why the pasta and beef casserole I made is referred to as goulash. At first I thought it was a regional reference; however, I’ve met people from all over the country that call this casserole goulash.

Then I wrote about the recipe for my SeriousEats.com column. In the comments, people told me that they know this dish as “American Chop Suey.” Others know it as, “Johnny Marzetti” and one person mentioned the name, “Slumgum.” I have to admit, slumgum was a new one to me!

No matter what you call it, this is a recipe for easy comfort food. Simply combine cooked gluten-free pasta (I like to use elbow macaroni but anything works) with cooked ground beef and tomato sauce. Top the whole thing with a little grated cheddar and in about 20 minutes, dinner is ready.

One little warning for the recipe, don’t overcook the pasta. Gluten-free pasta turns mushy when overcooked. To avoid this, check the pasta while it cooks. You want it to be a bit firm when you add it to the sauce. It finishes cooking in the oven. And, like most pasta dishes, this recipe welcomes creativity. Add some additional chopped vegetables and cook them along with the onions and garlic or swap the Cheddar for a different cheese. However you make it, you’ll end up with a casserole that’s delicious but definitely not a stew. Just ask my husband.

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Gluten-Free American Chop Suey (aka Goulash)

This dish goes by many different names, Goulash, American Chop Suey, and more! No matter what you call it, this simple combination of macaroni, tomato sauce, and ground beef is delicious.

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 4 -5

Author GlutenFreeBaking.com

Ingredients

• Nonstick cooking spray
• Salt
• 1 pound gluten-free elbow macaroni
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 pound 93% extra-lean ground beef
• 1 clove garlic, minced or put through a garlic press
• 1 (28 ounce) can tomato sauce (I used Hunt's tomato sauce.)
• 6 ounces cheddar cheese, grated (about 1 1/2 cups)

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Lightly spray a 13 by 9-inch baking dish (or a large oven-proof dish) with nonstick cooking spray.
• Fill a large pot three-quarters full with water. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Set a colander in the sink for draining the pasta. When the water reaches a boil, add 1 tablespoon salt and the pasta. Stir with a wooden spoon for about 30 seconds, then stir occasionally while the pasta cooks.
• In a large nonstick frying pan, heat the oil over high heat until hot and shimmering but not smoking. Add the onion. Cook, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until the onion is soft, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until soft and aromatic.
• Add the ground beef and cook, breaking up the clumps with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula, until thoroughly cooked and browned, about four minutes. If desired, remove and discard any excess fat.
• Stir three-quarters of the tomato sauce into the beef. Lower the heat to low. (This is a good time to check the pasta if you haven’t already.)
• After about 10 minutes of boiling, check the pasta for doneness. Drain the pasta in the colander and return it to the cooking pot.
• Add the meat sauce to the pasta and stir with a wooden spoon to combine. Pour into the prepared baking dish. Top with the remaining tomato sauce and sprinkle evenly with the cheese.
• Bake until the cheese is golden brown and the sauce is bubbling, about 15 minutes.

The post Gluten-Free American Chop Suey (aka ‘Goulash’) appeared first on Gluten-Free Baking.

Recently, I had one of those days when everything annoyed me. Then I saw this video from Penny De Los Santos.

Flour & Eggs from Penny De Los Santos on Vimeo.

After watching Sara Kate Gillingham make pasta, I knew what would bring some joy into my day: a plate of fresh gluten-free pasta and some alone time.

There was just one problem. All my previous attempts at fresh gluten-free pasta ended up too gummy or gritty. Yet I wanted to try again. Part of me wonders if this yearning was a bit of self-sabotage, a desire to make something I thought would flop. Another part of me thinks it was hope.

Instead of putting together a complex flour blend, I simply scooped some brown-rice flour and added a little tapioca starch and xanthan gum to it. After whisking them together, I added two eggs and stirred everything together with a wooden spoon. It was by far the simplest fresh gluten-free pasta recipe I’d ever attempted. The dough looked so beautiful that I couldn’t help but smile. I rolled it out and cut it into fat ribbons.

After a quick boil in salted water, I strained the noodles. They had plumped up nicely during cooking, but didn’t look bloated and weren’t falling apart at the edges, two issues I’d dealt with before when testing gluten-free pasta recipes. Inspired by Penny’s video, I sautéed a little garlic in a lot of butter, grated some Parmesan, and finished the pasta with a little lemon zest.

I couldn’t believe it: this fresh gluten-free pasta recipe worked.

Over the next two weeks, I continued making fresh gluten-free pasta. I ran it through my pasta maker. I made fat ravioli. I cut it by hand. Again and again, this simple mixture of brown rice flour, tapioca starch, xanthan gum, and eggs made delicious pasta. The biggest difference between this pasta and traditional fresh pasta is that you can’t roll it out as thin. If you use a pasta machine, don’t roll it on the thinnest setting. I’ve found that stopping on the second-to-last setting works best. You also don’t want your sheets to get much longer than 12 inches. When the pasta is longer than this, it tends to break as it goes through the cutter.

Keep those two things in mind and you’ll be rewarded with amazing gluten-free fresh pasta, to make on good days and on not-so-good days. In fact, I think it tastes even better on gloomy days, but that’s just me.

Fresh Gluten-Free Pasta Recipe: Tips

• Before starting, dust a baking sheet with brown rice flour. As you work, move the cut pasta from the counter to the baking sheet. The flour prevents it from sticking.
• Xanthan gum is key to this recipe. Don’t omit it or the recipe won’t work.
• Weigh your eggs. They should be about 50 grams (out of shell) each. If your eggs are too large, the dough will end up too soft.
• If your dough is too sticky, add equal parts tapioca starch and brown rice flour to stiffen it.
• If your dough is dry, add a little water. Start with two teaspoons and increase as needed.
• Generously flour your counter and rolling pin with brown rice flour. This keeps the dough from sticking.

ed note: Does this look familiar? An earlier version of this piece appeared on SeriousEats.com as part of my Gluten-Free Tuesday column. 

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Fresh Gluten-Free Pasta

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author GlutenFreeBaking.com

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups brown rice flour, plus more for dusting (7 1/2 ounces; 212 grams)
• 1/2 cup tapioca starch (2 ounces; 56 grams)
• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 4 large eggs (about 7 ounces; 200 grams out of shell)

Instructions

• In large bowl, whisk together brown rice flour, tapioca starch, and xanthan gum. Add eggs. Switch to a wooden spoon and stir until a dough forms. Generously dust your counter with brown rice flour. Turn dough out onto counter and knead a few times until fairly smooth.
• Divide dough into four equal pieces and work with 1 piece at a time, keeping the rest covered. Press the dough to flatten it slightly. Using a pasta machine set at the widest setting, run the dough through 2 times. Continue rolling dough through successively narrower settings until you reach the second-to-last setting.
• Cut dough sheet in half horizontally and pass each through the fettuccine cutter. (The spaghetti setting is too thin for this gluten-free pasta.) Dust pasta with brown rice flour and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough pieces.
• Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook half the batch of pasta until tender, about 5 minutes. Toss with sauce. Repeat with remaining pasta. Serve immediately.

The post How to Make Fresh Gluten-Free Pasta appeared first on Gluten-Free Baking.

Yesterday I posted a picture on Facebook of my pasta dinner. One of my friends asked about how I cooked the pasta. Since she was the second person to ask me in a week, I felt a post was in order.

Here’s how to perfectly cook gluten-free pasta every time:

Use a large pot!

You’ll need about 6 quarts of water for 1 pound of gluten-free pasta. Gluten-free pasta would love nothing better than to stick together. A large pot with lots of water gives the pasta enough room to boil and not stick.

Use LOTS of salt.

There is an old Italian cooking adage about how pasta water should be as salty as the sea. Isn’t that a lovely? If you’ve ever gotten a mouthful of seawater, you know how salty it is! Adding salt to the cooking liquid helps to boost the flavor of pasta. On its own, gluten-free pasta is pretty boring. Salting the water really makes a difference to its flavor profile. You’ll want to use about 1 to 1 1/2 Tablespoons of salt per pound of pasta. I bring my water to a boil, add the salt, return it to a boil, and then I add the pasta. Which brings me to…

Cook your pasta in boiling water!

I know. I know. On the back of bag it states that you can “cook” your pasta in a covered pot of hot water. Hrmp! If you want a pot of sticky, yucky pasta you can do it. If, however, you want lovely, silky pasta, you need to cook it in boiling water. Be sure your water is a boil when you add the pasta and returns to a bubbling boil while the pasta cooks.

Don’t add oil!

There is this cooking myth that adding oil will prevent your pasta from sticking together. Not true! (To prevent pasta from sticking, see #5). Oil in pasta water floats to the top of the pot. When you drain the pasta, it will stick to your lovely cooked noodles. And you know what this means? It means the sauce won’t stick to it! You’ll end up with noodles that can’t hold sauce and, when chilled, will take on a weird crunchy texture. Ew! So no oil in the cooking water! Thank you!

 Stir!

Gluten-free pasta will stick to itself if you don’t prevent it. How to prevent this from happening? Stir it! As soon as you drop the pasta into the boiling water, begin to stir it. Keep doing this for about 30 seconds. Then, continue to stir occasionally while it cooks. The first 3-5 minutes are the most important for stirring. This when your pasta is stickiest.

Taste.

The cooking time printed on the back of the bag never, ever seems to be right. After about 6 minutes, check your pasta. Some pastas cook in under ten minutes, other take about 12. For gluten-free pasta, you want it to be cooked thoroughly but not mushy. When you bite into the pasta, look at it. If there is a dark spot in the center it is not done. The texture and color should be the same all the way through.

Check it.

When overcooked, gluten-free pasta becomes mushy. After the initial tasting, check it every minute. This will ensure that you don’t overcook it.

Reserve some cooking liquid.

Right before you drain the pasta, ladle out about 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Gluten-free pasta really soaks up sauce. To loosen your sauce, add a bit of the cooking liquid to your pasta when you add the sauce. In fact, you want enough sauce and liquid so that it looks like too much. This will prevent your pasta from becoming dry.

Drain

Use a large strainer to drain your pasta. Don’t rinse the pasta in cold water. All that does is cool down the pasta. You don’t want cold pasta.

Return Pasta to the Pot

After draining, return the pasta to the pot to add the sauce. Trying to sauce the pasta in the serving bowl is messy. Topping pasta on individual plates leaves some pasta dry.

Sauce

Add your favorite sauce. If you make homemade sauce, awesome. If you buy pre-made sauce, awesome! Just be sure it’s gluten-free. And read labels each time. Ingredients change.

Reserve a little of the sauce to top each plate. This also makes it easy to adjust the amount of sauce. Some folks like a little. Some a lot.

Stir

Give it a good stir. You want to coat each noodle with sauce.

Serve!

Pasta is best served right after it’s made. Gluten-free pasta doesn’t taste great cold. Nor does it make a good pasta salad. If you have leftovers, reheat before you eat.

And most important of all…

Enjoy!

The post How to Cook Gluten-Free Pasta appeared first on Gluten-Free Baking.

On my list of favorite summer foods, BLTs are right at the top. This easy weeknight pasta came about when I wanted a BLT but (gasp) I didn’t have any gluten-free bread in the house. For once, it was a good thing that I was out of bread because this recipe is awesome.

To make, simply boil a pound of pasta. Toss it with a pint of halved grape tomatoes, sauteed baby spinach (the stand-in for the “L” in the BLT”), and crumbled bacon. If you’re feeling frisky, add some chopped basil or a generous shake of Parmesan cheese. That’s it.

Oh, and as for that baby spinach. That’s what I use. Any green leafy vegetable works (and tastes great!) in this pasta. Use what you love and then tell me about.

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Gluten-Free BLT Pasta

For this pasta, I love the flavor of uncooked tomatoes. To heat them up just a little, I place the tomatoes in a medium bowl. After I cook the spinach, I place the hot spinach into the bowl on top of the sliced tomatoes. It warms the tomatoes just enough to help them release their juices. For the “lettuce” part of the BLT, I use baby spinach. Any leafy green vegetable works well and tastes great in the recipe. Use whatever you fits your diet.

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 4 -6

Author GlutenFreeBaking.com

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 4 pieces bacon
• 1 pound gluten-free spaghetti
• 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced or put through a garlic press
• 5 ounces baby spinach
• 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, washed and halved.
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

• Fill a large (5 1/2 quart) pot three-quarters with water. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Set a colander in the sink for draining the pasta.
• While waiting for the pasta to reach a boil, cook the bacon. Heat one teaspoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat until oil begins to shimmer but not smoke. Add bacon and cook, turning occasionally, until crisp. Place bacon on a paper towel-lined plate. Carefully discard bacon grease (don't pour it down the drain) and wipe out skillet.
• Check pasta water. As soon as it reaches a boil, add 1 tablespoon kosher salt and the pasta. Stir for the first 30 seconds to prevent the pasta from sticking. Then stir pasta occasionally. Cook until pasta is tender, about 11 minutes.
• While pasta boils, cook the spinach. In large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium high heat until oil shimmers but doesn't smoke. Add garlic. Cook until garlic is soft, about 30 seconds. Add spinach. Cook until wilted, about 45 seconds. Place hot spinach in bowl with tomatoes.
• Before draining pasta, reserve one cup of the pasta cooking water. (Ladle carefully into a heatproof bowl or measuring cup.) Drain pasta and return to pasta cooking pot. Toss pasta with remaining olive oil. Add cooked spinach and halved tomatoes. Crumble crisp bacon over pasta. Toss to combine. (If you prefer, chop the bacon with a knife.) Season pasta to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. If pasta seems dry, add a generous splash of pasta cooking water. Transfer pasta to serving bowl. Enjoy!

The post Gluten-Free BLT Pasta appeared first on Gluten-Free Baking.

My love for pasta knows no limit. Even in the heat of summer, I bring a pot of water to a boil to cook pasta for dinner. This recipe, which highlights fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden, comes together quickly, making it a nice dinner for busy nights.

For this pasta, I use ricotta salata. Unlike the more commonly used ricotta, which is soft and creamy, this version of ricotta is firm, almost like feta. It’s a mild cheese and while it’s great sliced and eaten with some bread or vegetables, I prefer it in hot dishes. For this pasta, I shred the ricotta salata and toss it together with the hot pasta. Unlike other cheeses, it doesn’t really melt. Rather, it just softens, adding salty-cheesy bites that surprise you while eating. Remember the delight in getting bits of marshmallows in your cereal as a kid? The cheese is like that. Bits of goodness sprinkled throughout your serving!

If you can’t find blocks of ricotta salata, use the crumbled version. If, however, you can’t find it at all, replace it with either feta or fresh mozzarella. Either cheeses work well in this dish. And, if you are dairy-free, simply omit the cheese completely. The pasta tastes great with or without it.

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Gluten-Free Pasta with Ricotta Salata, Garlicky Spinach, Tomatoes, and Olives

Ricotta salata adds a mild cheese flavor to this dish. If you are unable to find it, replace it with feta or fresh mozzarella. To make the pasta dairy-free, simply omit the cheese.

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 4 to 6

Author GlutenFreeBaking.com

Ingredients

• 1 pound gluten-free penne pasta
• Kosher salt
• 4 tablespoons olive oil divided
• 4 cloves garlic, minced or put through a garlic press (about 4 teaspoons)
• 10 ounces baby spinach
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, washed and halved
• 1/4 cup pitted kalamata olive, halved sliced
• 3 ounces ricotta salata, grated, divided (about 1 cup)
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 10 fresh basil leaves, chopped

Instructions

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain pasta and return to cooking pot, reserving 1 cup of cooking liquid.
• While pasta cooks, in a large skillet, heat one tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add half the garlic and cook, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until the garlic is soft and lightly brown, about 2 minutes. Add half the spinach and cook until tender, about 1 minute. Transfer the cooked spinach to a bowl. Repeat with another tablespoon of olive oil, remaining garlic, and spinach.
• Add the spinach, tomatoes, olives, and remaining olive oil to the pasta and stir to combine. If the sauce seems too thick, loosen it by adding pasta water a little at a time until desired consistency is reached. Add three-quarters of the grated ricotta salata. Stir to combine.
• Season to taste with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Pour pasta into a large serving bowl or spoon onto individual plates. Top pasta with remaining ricotta salata and basil.

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How to Make Gluten-Free Gnocchi or Turning Potatoes Into Pasta is Easy! 

Turning on the oven to roast potatoes during the summer seems silly. But summer foods, including pesto, caponata, and fresh tomato sauce, pair so well with potato gnocchi that it’s worth the hour or so of extra kitchen heat.

The Potatoes

Without wheat flour to bring stretchy gluten to hold the gnocchi together, starchy potatoes provide the structure that we need. Use russetts or Idaho potatoes for this recipe.

To further ensure the gluten-free gnocchi hold together during cooking, you need to bake, not boil, the potatoes. Baked potatoes not only reward you with a stronger potato flavor, they don’t absorb water during the cooking process. During testing, batch after batch of gnocchi made with baked potatoes used approximately one to one and a half cups of gluten-free flour. The same recipe made with boiled potatoes sometimes required up to two and half cups of flour, leaving the gnocchi heavy and unpleasantly gummy.

The Flour

Thanks to the starchy, roasted potatoes, we don’t need to use a complex gluten-free flour blend or xanthan gum for this recipe. A simple mix of white rice flour and sweet rice flour does the trick. And the sweet rice flour is important. Made with only white rice flour, the gnocchi were too soft. A half cup of sweet rice flour, which is ground from glutinous, short-grain rice, added a nice bite without making the gnocchi gritty.

The Shaping

After selecting the potatoes and the flour, it’s time to make your gluten-free gnocchi. Are you excited? I’m excited! Let’s get going!

Rice or Grate Cooled Potatoes

Once the potatoes are cooked, allow them to cool. Then go ahead and peel them. I know that some cooks make gnocchi with hot potatoes. However, in my non-scientific tests, I found that the negatives (handling hot potatoes and the possibility of the eggs cooking when they hit the hot potatoes) outweighed any benefits. Once you peel the potatoes, pass them through a potato ricer or food mill. If you don’t have a potato ricer handy, you can grate the potatoes or mash them. (In fact, you can make small batches of gnocchi with cold, leftover mashed potatoes!)

Add Beaten Eggs

Whisk together your eggs. Pour over your shredded potatoes.

Mix Until a Dough Forms

Work the eggs into the shredded potatoes with a bench scrapper or fork. As soon as the eggs are incorporated into the dough, the potato-egg mixture should resemble a very soft dough. Stop mixing at this point.

Add the Gluten-Free Flour

For two pounds of gnocchi, you need about 1 1/2 cups of gluten-free flour. (recipe below.) The few times I used less flour, the gnocchi fell apart while they boiled. Begin by adding 1 cup of flour. Work it into the dough and then go from there.

Knead the Dough

You want the dough firm, not soft and sticky. If the dough seems too soft, add the remaining flour mixture, 1/4 cup at a time. If you’ve never made gnocchi before and aren’t sure if you’ve added enough flour, you can pinch off a little piece of dough and test it in a small pot of boiling water. The dough should not fall apart, if it does, add more flour.

Divide It Up! 

Cut the dough into eighths. Place a damp paper towel over the dough you aren’t working with. This prevents a skin from forming.

Roll Into a Log

Knead the dough a few times before rolling out into a long log. Don’t place too much flour on your counter of the dough will be hard to roll out.

Cut into Pieces

Cut each log into bite-size pieces. Since my dough wasn’t on a cutting board, I used a small icing spatula to cut the dough into pieces. This prevents my knife, and countertop, from damage.

Dent it!

The easiest way to shape gnocchi is to simply press a small indentation into each piece. Place the cut gnocchi onto a lightly floured baking sheet.

or Roll It On a Fork!

Or you can roll the gnocchi over a fork or gnocchi board. This creates ridges which hold onto sauce for serving. Place the cut gnocchi onto a lightly floured baking sheet.

Boil It!

Once all the gnocchi are shaped, boil them, top with your favorite sauce, and enjoy!

Print

How to Make Gluten-Free Gnocchi

Note: Do NOT freeze these gnocchi. They fall apart in the water if they are frozen. They must be cooked the day they are made.

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author GlutenFreeBaking.com

Ingredients

• 2 pounds russet potatoes, washed (about 4 medium)
• 1 cup white rice flour (4 ounces; 113 grams)
• 1/2 cup sweet rice flour (2 ounces; 56 grams)
• 2 large eggs
• Kosher salt

Instructions

• Adjust oven rack to center middle position and preheat oven to 400°F. Pierce potatoes a few times with a knife and place on a baking sheet. Roast until tender, about one hour. Remove potatoes from oven and allow to cool.
• Whisk together white rice flour and sweet rice flour. Using the flour mixture, flour your counter. Peel the potatoes and pass through a potato ricer onto the counter. Whisk together eggs and 1 teaspoon salt. Pour over the potatoes. Work the egg mixture into the potatoes with a bench scrapper or fork until potatoes begin to hold together. Mixture will be sticky.
• Work one cup of the flour mixture into the potato mixture. Start by working the flour into the potato mixture with a bench scrapper or fork. As soon as a dough begins to form, begin kneading the dough by hand until all the flour is incorporated. The dough should be firm and not sticky. If it is, add the remaining flour mixture, about 1/4 cup at a time. (You can test the gnocchi by boiling a small pot of water and cooking a small piece of dough. The gnocchi should hold together.)
• Divide the dough into quarters. Then, as you work with it, cut each quarter in half. Cover remaining dough with a damp paper towel. Roll out each dough eighth into a log. Cut into bite-size pieces. Shape by either pressing a small indentation into each gnocchi or rolling the gnocchi over a fork or gnocchi board.
• Transfer shaped gnocchi to a lightly white rice-floured baking sheet. Shaped gnocchi can either be frozen or cooked right away.
• To Cook: Boil a large pot of salted water. Cook half the fresh or frozen gnocchi in the boiling water until they float, about four minutes. (Taste one gnocchi to ensure it is cooked through). Remove the gnocchi from the water with a skimmer and transfer to a bowl or pot of sauce. Repeat with remaining gnocchi. If gnocchi must be held for more than a moment, drizzle with oil and toss to prevent sticking.

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