Justin Timberlake ~ Sexyback
Hootie & The Blowfish ~ Hold My Hand
Jack Johnson ~ Wasting Time
Jack Johnson ~ Tomorrow Morning
The Jam ~ Going Underground
Ultra Nate ~ Found A Cure
Azizz ~ Return To The Pharaoh
Nelly & Tim McGraw ~ Over And Over
Skin ~ Raised On Radio
Doris Day ~ I Remember You
Foo Fighters ~ Come Alive
Jackson Browne ~ Your Bright Baby Blues
The Union ~ Rock And Roll Ain't Noise Pollution
James Morrison ~ You Give Me Something
It has been interesting times at R&R HQ since going completely gluten free and yeast free. But luckily I am up for the challenge..well most of the time. On the whole I am quite enjoying the experimentation process and I have come up with a few new recipes of my own. However the one food I am struggling to get adjusted to is pasta. I have always been an ardent lover of wholemeal/wheat pasta. I rarely ate white pasta as I didn't enjoy the gloopy and bland taste of it. I loved the nutty and robust flavours and textures of the wholewheat variety and it was always my ultimate comfort food. Give me a steaming hot bowl of wholewheat spaghetti and rich tomatoey garlicky sauce and I was instantly happy. Oh my stomach is growling at the very thought. lol. Those were the days....
I have always enjoyed buckwheat noodles and have found a couple of new gluten free noodles to satisfy my noodle days. But pasta...boy has it been hard work. There aren't many varieties to choose from and most have a rice/corn mix which gives you with a 'white wheat type' alternative. Which is great if that is your yen but for me it falls far short. I am currently trying out brown rice spaghetti and its been a trial..lol. The first attempt wasn't cooked anywhere close enough to be edible and I experienced crunchy spaghetti with a very bad avocado sauce..epic fail. The second attempt which was served with a Cashew/Garlic cream sauce wasn't much better but at least it was edible but made me fear that I wouldn't find my spaghetti 'happy'. Then I got a grip and tried again. I extended the cooking time drastically and allowed the pasta to sit in the cooking water whilst I plated up my steamed side veggies. Then I drained off the spaghetti and it instantly looked better than the previous attempts....lesson here is to ignore the packet instructions! The green lentil sauce wrapped itself around the spaghetti strands and it looked like a nice bowl of pasta..even if it was a little white lol. Fussy or what? I sat down to try my first taste expecting the worst if I'm honest but was quickly surprised. It wasn't my beloved wholewheat hit but it wasn't awful. A huge improvement on my previous attempts. It wasn't robust as spaghetti should be and it was more noodle like but...and its a huge but...it was really good. I think the sauce helped a lot as it was a delicious accompaniment and I have leftovers. Have I found my ultimate gluten free replacement for my wholewheat spaghetti?...No. But I am closer than I was this morning. I will keep looking for and experimenting with as many types as I can find. So I ask you this...if you are GF/Vegan, what pasta can you recommend? Drop me a comment or email me at rocketandroses@aol.com I would welcome your thoughts..
So to the sauce..it was the first time I had tried this recipe. I had seen it many times when flicking through my copy of Rose Elliots The Bean Book. I chose it because it was something a little different from other sauces I make. I loved it...from the first mouthful to the last. I am finding it hard to come up with the words to describe it other than...it's just so freaking good. lol. Eloquent, eh? But it really is. If you love lentils...you must try this sauce.
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| Green Lentil Sauce with GF Spaghetti |
Green Lentil Sauce Serves 4
(Recipe from The Bean Book/Elliot)
175g/6oz/scant 1 cup dried green lentils
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp oil (I used 1 tsp)
125g/4oz/1 1/2 cups of mushrooms, wiped and sliced (I omitted this ingredient)
1 small green bell pepper, deseeded and chopped
2 tomatoes, skinned and chopped
1 tbsp red wine
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp ground coriander
pinch of chilli powder
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
225g/8oz spaghetti of your choice
15g/1/2 oz/1 tbsp vegan butter (I omitted this)
Cook your green lentils as per your package instructions. I cooked mine for 35 minutes and they were perfectly soft. Set to one side.
Meanwhile, peel and chop the onion and crush the garlic. Saute them together in the oil for 5 minutes, then add the mushrooms and green pepper and cook for a further 5 minutes. Drain the lentils and stir into the vegetable mixture, together with the tomatoes, wine, tomato paste and seasonings. Let the mixture simmer gently whilst you cook your pasta. Drain it and put it back into the saucepan with the vegan butter and stir until the pasta is coated. (I skipped this stage ~R~) Turn the past out onto a serving dish and pour the sauce over the top of it. Serve...
Enjoy!
Thanks for stopping by and I hope your Tuesday has been a fantastic one...
~Red~
NB: This recipe is not mine and therefore I take no credit for it. It is the hard work and creative talent of Rose Elliot and hers alone. I thank her for a great recipe. ~R~
