White Wine & Sherry Pasta Sauce

I often make a quick pasta sauce by throwing together shallots, garlic, a few spices and some white wine. I use fresh herbs when I can, but often use dried as well.  It usually cooks for only as long as it takes to boil the water and cook the pasta. Other ingredients go in as I have time, inclination or can find in the fridge.  This typically includes things such as sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms and chopped spinach. (I’m a stealth vegetable eater.  I don’t like many vegetables so I try to sneak them into sauces and such to up my intake.)  This version include fresh herbs from the garden, mushrooms and tomatoes, as well as the addition of sherry.  I sometimes add diced chicken and sub chicken stock for the white wine. This makes enough for one or two.

Ingredients

• 1/2-1 shallot or (or 2 tsps dried)
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• 3-5 sun-dried tomatoes
• 3-4 small button or baby bella mushrooms
• 1/4 cup dry sherry
• 1/2 cup white wine
• Herbs (I used fresh oregano, basil and rosemary, about 1 tablespoon each of chopped oregano and basil and a spring of rosemary).  If you are using dried, frankly I usually eyeball it.  4-5 good shakes of Italian herbs, plus an extra shake or two of basil, oregano and rosemary).
• 2-3 tbsps butter
• 1-2 tbsps Parmesan cheese (to mix in; you’ll want extra to top the sauce when it’s done).
• 1/2-1 c  pasta per serving (Hubby eats gluten-free – his favorite is Tinkyada – the shells are pictured above. I go with regular since it’s so much cheaper than GF pasta and we eat a lot of pasta).

Instructions

Cook the pasta according to directions.

While the pasta is cooking (start when you put the water on), peel and finely chop the garlic and onion. Saute them in olive oil on low heat.  Dice and add the sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms).  If you are using dried herbs, add them now. Cook, stirring occasionally until the shallot is translucent, and the mushrooms have browned.

Adding butter to the reduced sauce

Add the wine and sherry and simmer to reduce and burn off the alcohol.

If you are adding spinach or fresh herbs, add them once the sauce is reduced a bit. (Otherwise they lose a lot of their color). It will generally cook down to the right level in the time it takes to boil water and cook pasta. If you get distracted and it gets a bit dry, just add some more wine or sherry.

Just before serving, add 2-3 pats of butter and stir to melt in. This thickens the sauce (without gluten!).  Once the butter is melted, add the Parmesan cheese and do the same thing. You can add a bit more butter if it seems too thin.

Serve over pasta, with additional Parmesan as a garnish.

Enjoy!  (The joy of using the sherry is that it gives the sauce a deeper flavor and you can go with either red or white wine depending on your mood.)

What will you try adding?

15 Minute Thai Peanut Stirfry

It is finally warming up here (a whole 51 degrees today), and I’m losing my compulsion to cook comfort food.  Tonight I wanted a quick and easy meal that wasn’t too heavy.  The result from a forage in the freezer and cupboards turned up the following:

• 1/3 pound rice noodle sticks  (I got mine from Trader Joe’s but the Asian section of most grocery stores should have them). 
• Grilled chicken breast (1 large breast or about 1  to 1.5 cups cut up) grilled or if frozen, thawed.
• 1/2 a pound of  blanched or thawed stirfry vegetables (again, you can cut your own, or cheat — I had a nice frozen mix with broccoli, carrots, red pepper, water chestnuts, mushrooms and celery. 
• 1 tbsp olive or sesame oil
• 1/2 -3/4 cup peanut sauce (watch the ingredients as they sometimes have trace amounts of gluten)  Mine — from the foo foo store brand section of my local grocery was gluten free and had both fairly low fat and sodium content.)

I was rather hungry and impatient and threw this whole thing together in less than 10 minutes, the longest part is boiling the water.  Cook the noodles al dente (6-8 minutes probably depending the size of the noodles).  While they are cooking, thaw the chicken and vegetables, and start the oil heating in a wok or the largest fry pan you have.  When the oil is very hot, fry up the vegetables and chicken to heat them through and finish the cooking process, 2-4 minutes (longer if they’re raw). Add 2/3 of the peanut sauce and stir fry another minute. Drain the noodles and toss them in the wok, mixing up everything, add the rest of the sauce, and stir. 

Turn off the heat and enjoy. 

Serves two

Tinkyada Lasagne Noodles

Product Review: Tinkyada Brown Rice Lasagne Noodles

One of our tests for any GF food is whether I will eat it if I don’t have to (since my husband is the only one with the gluten intolerance).  I mostly still eat regular pasta, although that’s generally because of the cost (GF pasta cost 2-3 times what regular pasta does), and I do prefer the standard semolina pasta taste, especially if I’m going for one of my comfort foods (pasta, butter and a little parm). But my husband quite likes it and my mother-in-law actually prefers the rice pasta and started buying it after we introduced her to it.  Also, generally for any kind of casserole, cream, pesto or tomato sauce you generally can’t tell the difference, at least if you buy Tinkyada.

This is also the case for lasagna. The Tinkyada worked quite well. You have to be careful not to overcook the noodles.  They don’t feel mushy in the al dente sense but they will tear quite easily.  I would cook for no more than 8-9 minutes, especially since they are then going to be in the oven for another half hour at least.  (This is less than half the recommendation on the box, so be aware.) 

While most big grocery stores around here carry the basic Tinkyada spirals and ziti, for these noodles you may have to visit a specialty or health food store or online.  In general, Tinkyada makes the best GF pasta.  It doesn’t come out super mushy or taste really odd. Brown rice seems to hold up better than white and also means the pasta is more of a standard color and taste. I haven’t had other GF Lasagne noodles so I can’t compare at the moment, but I have no complaints except for the box recommendation on cooking time. The last time I used them I used the method of starting with uncooked noodles and putting in a little extra water in the sauce, covering tightly and cooking longer.  They were a bit on the chewy side, so this time I decided to cook them.  Next time, I might just blanch them, so they start to cook but are still fairly stiff and easy to work with.

Brief Comments:  Good taste and texture, but cook for only half the time the box recommends.