So, I have never made pasta before full stop, let alone gluten free! However, I thought it was time for a challenge, and I may as well start off blogging again with a bang. You will need a pasta maker for this recipe, I used one that was gifted to my parents on their wedding day. They range in price, but can be found for under £40.
Ingredients– Makes 3-4 portions
Pasta: *Note 1
- 3 Eggs
- 250g Gluten free plain flour *Note 2
- 1tsp Xantham gum
*(Note 1- We made double this amount for leftovers, the pictures show double the amount listed above)
*(Note 2- We ended up adding extra flour, due to the texture of the dough, and added lots more through the rolling process)
Crab Sauce:
- 350g Crab meat, white and brown mix (Extra white to garnish)
- 3 Spring onions
- 1 Red chilli
- 3 Large garlic cloves
- 1 Tin anchovies
- 100g Butter
- 175ml White wine
- 1 Lemon (Zest and juice)
- 40g Capers
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions- Pasta
I believe I started off rather naive when cooking this dish. I was hoping the pasta would be as easy as they make it look on Masterchef, but, after a few challenges, and a lot of perseverance, it turned out pretty well. Patience really was necessary, along with a lot of trial and error in the pasta-making process.
- Begin by adding your flour and xantham gum to a mixing bowl. Xantham gum is often used in gluten-free cooking and baking, and replaces the elasticity found in gluten. Making a well in the middle of the mixture, add your eggs and slowly begin to scramble. I used a fork, and began to combine the eggs with the flour mixture until a sticky dough formed. At this point we added more flour, and rolled the dough out into a long oblong shape, ready to be rolled through the pasta machine.
- We rolled the pasta through the machine a few times, until we reached a perfect thickness. As I was cooking with my girlfriend, we had 4 hands, and this was definitely needed. Once again- why can’t it be as easy as on the TV?! To create the linguine, we used the attachment to cut each sheet, rolling it through, once again, this took a few goes. We hung the pasta over a baking tray to air whilst we started on the sauce.
- When it is time to cook, the pasta only takes a few minutes so make sure you watch the pot! We found the texture to be quite chewy, but when it was combined in the sauce it was delicious.
Instructions- Sauce
- In a large pan, fry the garlic, chilli, spring onion, anchovies, capers and brown crab meat in butter for a few minutes, on a medium heat. To this, add the white wine, and continue to heat until the alcohol cooks off. Season the sauce to taste, we were heavy on the salt and pepper, to balance the rich flavours of the sauce. However, anchovies are already very salty, so be wary!
- To the pan, add the remaining white crab meat, juice and zest of one lemon, a spoon of the pasta water and the cooked, drained linguine. Also, a little more butter can be added to emulsify, and everything given a big stir.
- To serve, I made a quick green salad with mozzarella, and added fresh parsley and parmesan to the pasta dish. Fresh chillis can also be added to garnish, as well as being in the sauce, depending on your desired heat.
Push yourself out of your comfort zone, and cook something new too!
Food Ob-cec-d 
Looks scrumptious! I will try it. Barilla makes a decent gluten-free spaghetti, penne pasta and tiny little rigatoni. They work well with this kind of recipe; however, they noodles are not robust and will dissolve into mush if you over-stir them.
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