Pasta with Fresh Corn Pesto

From Bon Appetit (August 2010)
 

4 bacon slices, cut lengthwise in half, then crosswise into ½-inch pieces (I used turkey bacon)
4 cups fresh corn kernels (cut from about 6-8 ears) (I used frozen corn)
1 large garlic clove
1¼ teaspoon coarse kosher/sea salt
¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus additional for serving
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/3 cup olive oil
8 ounces brown rice fettuccine (or any pasta you have laying around)
¾ cup coarsely torn fresh basil leaves, divided

Cook bacon in large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp and brown, stirring often. Using slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels to drain. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon drippings from skillet. Add corn, garlic, salt, and pepper to drippings in the skillet. Saute over medium-high heat until corn is just tender but not brown, about 4 minutes. Transfer 1½ cups corn kernels to a small bowl and reserve. Scrape the remaining corn mixture into a food processor/blender. Add ½ cup Parmesan and pine nuts. With machine running, add olive oil through feed tube and blend until pesto is almost smooth. Set pesto aside.

Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain, reserving 1½ cups pasta cooking liquid. Return pasta to empty pot. Add corn pesto, reserved corn kernels, and ½ cup basil leaves. Toss pasta mixture over medium heat until warmed through, adding reserved pasta liquid by ¼ cupfuls to thin to desired consistency, 2 to 3 minutes. Season pasta to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer pasta to large shallow bowl. Sprinkle with remaining ¼ cup basil leaves and reserved bacon. Serve pasta, passing additional grated Parmesan alongside.

I added diced tomatoes as well.  I thought this was a great addition, Tim disagreed, so you'll have to try it out for yourself.

Fried Green Tomatoes with Buttermilk Lime Dressing

Fried Green Tomatoes
From Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison

4 to 6 medium green (unripe) tomatoes
¾ cup fine cornmeal (gluten free bread crumbs work too)
3 to 4 tablespoons vegetable oil or clarified butter
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoons chopped basil, tarragon, or parsley (for serving)

Slice the tomatoes crosswise 1/3 to ½ inch thick. Press each piece into a plate of cornmeal to coat on both sides. Heat the oil in a wide skillet over high heat until hot enough to sizzle a drop of water. Add the tomatoes, reduce the heat to medium, and fry on both sides until golden. Remove to a plate, season with salt and pepper, and serve with the chopped herbs, buttermilk lime dressing (recipe below), or mayonnaise.

Buttermilk-Lime Dressing
From www.ezrapoundcake.com
3/4 cup whole or lowfat buttermilk
5 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (from 3-4 limes)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup finely minced fresh basil
1/4 cup finely minced green onion
1/4 cup finely minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

In a small bowl, whisk the ingredients together until thoroughly combined. Cover tightly and store in the refrigerator not more than 2 days. Makes 1 1/4 cups.

Ginger Snap Pumpkin Pie

The leaves are beginning to turn vibrant shades of yellow, orange, and red!  That means it's time to pull out all those delicious recipes... unfortunately, most of those delicious recipes have gluten in them.  That doesn't mean I'm going to go hungry, it just means I need to adapt!  Here's the first of what I'm sure will be many great autumn recipes.

Links to some of my favorite GF staples

"Granola" bars:

Enjoy Life
Enjoy Life makes a lot of GF items and is relatively easy to find.  It's all somewhat tasty.  Their "granola" bars are edible, not amazing, but great if you're on the go, hiking, or camping.

LARABAR
LARABARs are my favorite GF bars!  They make a wide variety of flavors, some are better than others, but you should try them and pick your favorite flavor!

Granola (great with yogurt, cottage cheese, or just milk):

Trader Joe's
Trader Joe's Gluten Free Granola






Pasta:

Quinoa Pasta
I really prefer this to brown rice pasta.  It has a better texture and doesn't get gummy and sticky like many GF pastas. 

Trader Joe's
If I'm at TJs and out of pasta, I like to pick up a few bags of brown rice fusilli.  It's cheaper than the quinoa pasta and often times more convenient, since I do most of my shopping at TJs.  The penne just isn't as good (I don't know why).  It's great with their Vodka Sauce and Spicy Italian Chicken Sausage!




Bread:

ENER G
I'll be quite honest.  Unless it's fresh baked, warm, right out of the oven, Gluten Free bread sucks.  It just does.  It's not good.  Bread, like beer, should have gluten.  But if you're really having a hankering for something that really needs bread (grilled cheese, hot dog, hamburger, toast, etc) Ener G tapioca bread is the way to go.  It tastes MUCH better if it's toasted.  Ener G pretzels... not good.




Snacks:

Glutino
I love Glutino pretzels, they have a wonderful texture.  I haven't tried their other products, but I'm excited to!

MI-DEL Cookies
Tim and I love the ginger snaps... they're delicious!

back to NATURE
For some reason, these crackers on not listed on the website.  I don't know why... but they are very tasty.  If you can find them, give them a try!








Beer:

Redbridge Beer
As a micro brew enthusiast it pains me to recommend an Anheuser-Busch product, but this is the best GF beer I've found thus far.







Flour and baking mixes:

 Namaste Foods
Namaste Foods has consistently had the best baking mixes out there.  I haven't tried all of their mixes yet, but I've been very pleased with what I have tried.  They also make an all purpose GF flour.

 Bob's Red Mill
 Bob's Red Mill makes a HUGE selection of GF flours and mixes.  It's a great company to support and their products are wonderful!    I believe they make an all purpose GF flour blend, however the main cookbook I use for baking has a very specific flour blend that all the recipes are based off of, so I have yet to try Bob's pre made GF blend.  I use a blend of Bob's Sorghum, Potato, and Tapioca flours for my GF flour needs. To get a good texture, you need to blend a few types of GF flours together.



FYI... I have yet to find a GOOD premade GF pancake or pizza crust mix (I tried TJs GF pancake mix... AWFUL!  Like eating little disks of cardboard).  I just make my own from scratch.  I'll post those recipes later.

Shepherd's Pie

So it's been a while since my last post.  It's not that I've stopped cooking, I've just been forgetting to take pictures.  Originally my goal was to take a picture of everything... but that's just not going to happen every time I cook.  So I'm going to start posting recipes sans pictures.  I'll add a picture later if I remember to take one... and the food looks appetizing (photographing food is HARD)!

Ingredients

• 4 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
• 1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• salt and pepper to taste
• 5 carrots, chopped
• 1 cup fresh or frozen peas
• 1 cup fresh or frozen corn
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 pound buffalo
• 2 tablespoons potato flour or tapioca flour (any GF flour will do)
• 1 tablespoon ketchup
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (or more, if you're feeling extra cheesy)

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain and mash. Mix in butter, finely chopped onion and 1/4 cup shredded cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste; set aside. * Just make your favorite mashed potatoes, this part DOES NOT need to be exact!
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add carrots and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain, mash and set aside. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C.)
3. Heat oil in a large frying pan. Add onion and cook until clear. Add ground buffalo and cook until well browned. Pour off excess fat, then stir in flour and cook 1 minute. Add ketchup and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Spread the ground buffalo in an even layer on the bottom of a 2 quart casserole dish. Next, spread a layer of mashed carrots. Then spread the corn and peas.  Top with the mashed potato mixture and sprinkle with remaining shredded cheese.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.