Gluten Free Pasta Round-up

I've been asked about gluten free pasta quite a lot recently, so I thought I'd do a wee round-up of my favourite pastas.  There are a great range of pastas available now - certainly, when you compare the variety to what we used to have, even just five years ago, you'll agree that things are pretty good for the Coeliac pasta fan!  Where we used to glad for anything resembling pasta, now we can find many more shapes, beyond the standard fusilli, penne, lasagne sheets and spaghetti.

Doves Farm Organics have expanded their range over the last year to include ditalini (perfect for soups and salads) and macaroni. I'm a mac 'n' cheese fiend, so this has made me very happy indeed.  I haven't seen these pastas in any supermarkets yet, but you can buy them from the website.

Farabella pastas are available online from Drossa Ltd and have a fantastic range of some more unusal pasta shapes (and gnocchi!).  Their acini de pepe won this year's pasta category at the FreeFrom Food Awards; it is a brilliant cous cous subtitute and ideal for summer salads and winter stews.  Their orecchiette, chitarrine and cannelloni are also definitely worth a try.  Drossa stock some brilliant gluten free breads and baking ingredients, too, so the website is one to check out!

Le Veneziane corn pasta, from Molino di Ferro is available from health food shops and online here.  They have a good range with great pastini and spaghetti.  Ask at your local health food shop, it is a delicious pasta.

I never cook gluten free pasta for as long as it says on the packet, I have found that the recommended time is usually a couple of minutes too long for an al dente pasta.  Corn pasta in particular tends to make the cooking water very starchy and yellow, so if you're using the pasta in soups or stews, I would suggest cooking it separately and rinse well before you add it to the rest of the meal.  

If you need a bit of inspiration for what to eat with all that pasta, here are a few of my favourites.

Ino's Greek Octopus Stew is a delicious way to use a rather intimidating creature.  Tender and rich, this is a real celebration dish. 

photo taken from www.kitchen22.co.uk

This lemon spaghetti from Domestic Sluttery is seriously tasty but ridiculously simple to make.

photo taken from www.domesticsluttery.com

My new favourite pasta dish is this bacon pasta from Elizabeth at Rosalilium.  It's easily made gluten free by swapping the soya sauce for gf tamari.

photo taken from www.rosalilium.com

I love my fennel frond pesto stirred into pasta.  Top tip: keep a bit of the cooking water to loosen it a bit, if needed.

Fennel Frond Pasta, by Gluten Free[k]

You can't go wrong with good old spag bol and Kate over at A Girls Guide to Gluten Free Baking hass a great one to keep up your sleeve.  Head over there and be inspired!

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