I had the pleasure of trying a couple of recipes from a new gluten free cookbook-- Gluten Free Girl and the Chef.
One word: WOW. While I totally messed up one of the recipes (peanut butter brownies that I somehow turned into a fluffy chocolate cake/brownie) and I sniffled over that, I made two others that, wow.
Two things first...
FIRST. Back in the day, when I was still eating gluten, I had a pasta machine that I was in love with. Amongst the many things I had to give away and forget about, that one was one of the most painful (donuts remain the first). Sure, there are now seemingly endless dry gluten free pasta options out there that are fantastic, but those of you that know the joys that are fresh pasta, well, I'm sure you shed a few tearlets into your bowls of pasta while you wonder what your slow sauteed onion cream sauce would be like with some fresh fettucini. Maybe I'm alone in this. Anyhow...
SECOND. I have gone my whole life deliberately avoiding sardines and anchovies, for reasons that are totally mystifying now. I would shudder when I saw them on menus, ask foodie friends if they seriously enjoyed eating them and why WHY!?, and wondered why someone would ever want to buy a tin of sardines (my brother, ahem). Now I'm reading up on the differences between sardines, anchovies, and boquerónes... and I'm hunting down some brands so I can try cooking with these MORE.
SECOND AND A HALF. I kinda hate olives. Again, not sure why, I just do. This recipe calls for olives (and I grabbed the wrong can--green-- at the store and didn't realize it until I was chopping these up) and now I'm warming up the idea of olives. Really!
So anyway, onto this recipe. If you want to blow your own mind, do yourself a favor and buy this cookbook if only for these two recipes: gluten free pasta dough and fresh pasta with anchovies, lemons, and olives. Even if you don't think anchovies are for you, that olives are too peculiar, or that capers are too tart.
Take it from this former anchovy hating, olive rejecting lady... you will not want to stop eating this.
The pasta dough was literally out of this world. As I mentioned before, I am without a pasta making machine, hence the hand cut noodles... but this is making me think I need to buy this
attachment for our KitchenAid. The noodles themselves cooked up in under 5 minutes (and floated up to the top like any fresh pasta should when it's done) and were perfectly chewy and made me swoon. I'm not kidding. Going 7 years without fresh pasta will do that to you. Even my non-gf husband was floored. This recipe is a winner.
The pasta sauce... wow. While I was prepping the ingredients, I was shaking my head, thinking, why in the world am I chopping olives and sardines? If you know me, you'd be wondering this, too. As I started sauteeing and mixing in the pan, this WONDERFUL smell started to take over the house, and I was thinking, maybe I'll just try to eat it. Once I got through the recipe and started tossing the fresh pasta with the sauce, it was over. I had to try it immediately. I couldn't even really handle NOT eating it while my husband took the pictures. Just writing about this now is making me hungry. The sauce is fresh tasting and unlike anything I've ever eaten before... light, flavorful, and heavenly. Literally.
check out more pictures here. BUY the cookbook here.
Next up... seared shrimp with garlic almond sauce. stay tuned.
1 comment:
We are SO happy reading this. Thank you.
(your husband's photographs are really stunning, by the way.)
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