Whether you are avoiding wheat and gluten for health issues, or whether it's just a lifestyle choice, one of the most difficult items to buy commercially is a good pasta. Now, there are pastas available in all the free-from, gluten-free, special dietary sections of the major supermarket but they often have a strange taste or texture. Also, if you are looking to make a cold pasta salad with store-bought dried pasta, forget it! As it cools the pasta goes very hard and tough.
This recipe is probably not perfect, but after trial and error, it's the closest I've come to having that softness and texture of fresh pasta. Once you've got it mastered, it will take less than 30 minutes to prepare and just 3 minutes to cook.
To serve 2 people:
1 cup Brown Rice Flour
1 cup Soya Flour (This can be substituted for tapioca, sorghum, or a blend of your favourite flours. I use soya because it's got a nuttiness that I enjoy).
2 teaspoons of Xantham Gum
1 medium size Egg
1 tablespoon of Olive Oil
1-2 tablespoons of warm Water
Measure out the flour and Xantham and make a mound on a clean surface.
Make a well in the middle, and crack in the egg, and add the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of water.
Slowly mix together the liquid with your fingers, gradually pulling the flour into it.
Knead the dough until it forms a ball. This will take some judgement - if it's crumbly and won't hold together, add a little more water. If it's sticky, add a little more flour.
Once it's holding its self together, keep kneading until it is somewhat smooth. Being a wheat-free recipe, this is never going to have the smooth elasticity that a dough made with wheat flour would... it's the gluten that gives it that texture. But not to worry, the end product is just fine.
Break the dough and roll until smaller managable pieces (about the size of golf balls), and leave to rest for 5 minutes.
Once rested, flour your surface and using a floured rolling pin, roll out a ball of dough.
If you have a pasta machine, then flour it up (ensuring the rollers are floured is fundamental with this recipe), and put the ball of pasta through until the desired thickness is required. Then use the cutting roller of your choice. I find that either a very fine angel-hair, or a thicker fettucine both work just as good as each other.
If you do not have a pasta machine, don't fret - just roll the dough out until it's as flat as you can get it without breaking. The with a sharp knife, slice into fettucine strips (around 6mm) or smaller tagliatelle if you are feeling adventurous!
To cook the pasta: To cook the pasta, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Add the pasta and let it cook for:
Angel Hair Pasta 2 minutes
Tagliatelle 3 minutes
Linguine 4 to 5 minutes.
Drain and serve :-)
