Thursday, May 29, 2008

Ancient Harvest Quinoa Pasta Shells

I adjusted one of my usual recipes for Broccoli Raab Pasta to be gluten, dairy and soy free. My recipe is based off of this one that I found when surfing around. We have had Broccoli Raab 3 out of the last 5 weeks in our CSA box and this is what I have made each time.

Today I used a new-to-me type of pasta. The Ancient Harvest Quinoa Pasta Shells are actually a corn and quinoa blend pasta. I thought it turned out really well. I was really worried about overcooking them so I tested them every 1 minute after 6 minutes to be sure that did not happen.

These have twice as much fiber in them as the Brown Rice pasta I have been using and they were not pasty at all. I may not have cooked them the perfect amount of time as the texture was not perfect but I thought it was nice and my whole family ate it without complaint.

I guess my only real complaint is that the box size was very misleading. The box is the exact same size as a typical 1 pound box of pasta but it actually only has half as much pasta in it. I don't generally mention the price or cost of gluten-free foods as I feel like I just need to expect that it is more expensive. But it frustrated me because I feel like they designed it to mislead. I was shocked to open the box and discover it half-empty.

I have been looking for corn spaghetti noodles but have not found those yet.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is my favorite gluten-free pasta too! I like the texture better than that of rice pasta. Besides, I have an intolerance to rice. I know that's weird, since it's supposed to be one of the least allergenic foods, but it just doesn't work with my body.

By the way, thanks for checking out my blog! I read the blurb on your blog about how you suddenly discovered you couldn't eat gluten, dairy, and soy. I know how you feel. I had a similar talk with the doctor about a year ago. With our overlapping allergy patterns, maybe we can check out each other's recipes! I'm always looking for more. :-)

Anonymous said...

I really like the Ancient Harvest pasta as well. If you are looking for a corn-only pasta, I recommend the Mrs. Leeper's Corn Spaghetti. It has a nice firm texture and none of the gluiness of rice pasta.

You have a very informative blog! I'm really enjoying reading all the reviews.