BEET, LEMON & RICOTTA PASTA

I spent my whole childhood loathing beetroot with a passion! Weirdly enough, I now love them & eat them in one form or another most days. I came up with this one day when I had a lemon and some dill to use up & it really worked. So simple, but so delicious.
I use buckwheat pasta, but you can use whatever pasta you like.

INGREDIENTS

serves 2

4 medium sized raw beetroots
150g buckwheat pasta
handful fresh dill
zest of one lemon
75 g ricotta cheese or vegan alternative (I love Nush cream cheese from Ocado & other independent stores.)
handful of toasted pine nuts
Olive oil
preheat the oven to 180c.

1 Take your beetroots & place them in an oven proof dish. Poke them with a sharp knife a few times. Pop into the oven for about 90 mins. (Cooking time varies depending on the size & variety of the beetroots- this is a rough guide. You'll know they're done when the skin is starting to crinkle and when you poke a knife in they feel soft & cooked.) Leave to cool.

2  Cook your pasta as per instructions on the packet. (These will vary a little depending on what type of pasta you're using.) Top tip:  add a dessert spoon of light olive oil or rapeseed oil to the saucepan to stop the pasta sticking -I saw this on TV once & have done it ever since!

3  Toast your pine nuts if you're DIYing. You can also buy ready toasted pine nuts but if you want to toast them yourself, simply place into a dry, non stick frying pan, over a medium heat for a few mins until they start to brown. Keep an eye on them as "golden brown" can turn to " burnt" quite quickly!  Set to one side.

4  When the pasta is cooked, drain it in a colander, then rinse under some cold water to remove any excess starch. Place it in a serving dish. Mix in a little olive oil to stop the pasta sticking together - You want it so that the pasta is evenly, lightly coated - not swimming in oil. Season to taste.

5  Peel the cooled beetroots. Then chop them up & add to the pasta. Add the pine nuts, some chopped fresh dill & dots of the ricotta cheese.
Last but not least finish by finely grating the zest of an organic, unwaxed lemon & sprinkling over the top. Job done!

MUSHROOM & WALNUT OPEN RAVIOLI

I love Italian food & really pasta is one area I don't miss gluten. You can get some amazing gluten free pastas that gluten eaters will happily eat too. I prefer rice pasta or buckwheat pasta as oppose to corn based pasta - but it's worth experimenting with different ones until you find what works for you.
This dish looks quite impressive, but it's only got a handful of ingredients and really isn't complicated.
You can also make the Mushroom/walnut filling in advance and leave in the fridge until you're ready to put the dish together.

serves 2

150g mushrooms (and 25g mushrooms to serve)
1 shallot
75g walnuts
4 dessertspoons of redwine
light olive oil
1 tablespoon soy cream
fresh watercress to serve
salt and pepper
6 gluten free lasagne sheets

1 First up you want to soak your lasagne sheets in a large bowl of cold water, with a tablespoon of oil mixed in (to stop them sticking together). Leave for half an hour, whilst you make the walnut mushroom filling.

2  Peel and finely chop your shallot. Clean & chop up the mushrooms.
Put the shallot in a frying pan with one dessertspoon of light olive oil and cook for a few mins over a medium heat until softened and starting to brown.

3 Add the mushrooms to the pan with 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons water and 4 dessert spoons of red wine. Cook over a medium heat for around 5 mins. You want the mushrooms to be cooked and the liquid to have reduced down.

4  Put the walnuts into a blender. Blitz. Then add the mushroom/ shallot mix & soy cream into a blender & blend until you have a kind of mushroom pate. Add some salt and coarse ground black pepper to taste.

5 Take your lasagne sheets. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil, add a tablespoon of light olive oil and the pasta sheets and cook for about 10 mins or until the pasta is cooked (depending on what kind of pasta you use, the cooking time will vary a little.)
Whilst the pasta is cooking, you can place your mushroom/ walnut pate in the oven in the warming draw if you have one, or on a low heat just to warm through.

6  Slice the remaining mushrooms and saute in a little olive oil and water, in a frying pan, over a medium heat until they soften and start to brown.

7 You're now ready to build your ravioli. Layer up as follows: A sheet of pasta, then some mushroom/walnut pate, then a sheet of pasta, then the pate etc. topped with your sauteed mushrooms and some fresh watercress.

CHILLI & BROCCOLI LEMON PASTA

There are lots of reasons people adopt a dairy free diet. You may have a dairy allergy, lactose intolerance or follow a vegan diet.  If you are concerned that you may be short on calcium on a dairy free diet, worry not! There are lots of great Non dairy sources of calcium, and this recipe is full of them.

                                        If you're lactose intolerant you're in great company!

Broccoli, Almonds & edame beans are all top sources.
Watercress, Tahini, black strap molasses, dried figs, chickpeas & tofu are also calcium rich- but you won't find them in this recipe!
For this recipe I've used a bottle of this incredible lemon infused olive oil I was given (I think it was from Carluccios?) I'm completely obsessed with it. It just makes everything taste amazing! If you don't have any/ don't want to buy any, just use regular olive oil & squeeze the juice of a fresh lemon over the pasta.
I cheat & use ready toasted almond flakes, but if you want to toast your own it's easy. Just place the flaked almonds in a dry frying pan and cook over a medium heat for a couple of minutes until they start to brown.

serves 4   300g gluten free pasta of your choice 
                 300g broccoli
                 2 red chillies deseeded & finely sliced
                 250g edame beans
                 4 tablespoons lemon infused olive oil 
                 1 handful toasted almond flakes
                 salt & black pepper to taste

1. Cook your pasta according to the instructions on the packet. (TOP TIP. adding a tablespoon of light olive oil/rapeseed oil to the water helps prevent the pasta sticking.)
2. Meanwhile chop the broccoli into florets & then steam or boil the broccoli & edame beans until firm but tender.
3. Slice & de seed the chillies. (You can use red pepper if you prefer.) Place in a frying pan with a dessertspoon of light olive oil or other cooking oil. Stir fry over a medium heat for a few minutes until softened. Set to one side.
3. Drain the pasta, mix with the veg.
4. Mix the lemon oil into the pasta dish, add the sliced chilli & toasted almond flakes & season to taste.

POMEGRANATE, CUCUMBER, & FETA PASTA SALAD

Pasta salad is the perfect packed lunch to take with you to work or if you're going out for the day. It's also a great dish if you're invited to a bar b q & worried there won't be food you can eat. Everyone will love it, whether they are on a GF diet or not.

serves 4
300g (dried weight) of gluten free pasta.
100g pomegranate seeds
1 cucumber 
200g feta cheese
12 radishes
1 tub mustard cress

Dressing

5 tablespoons juice from a grapefruit (fresh)
5 olive oil
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (please check your mustard is GF)
2 teaspoons honey/ maple syrup
Seasoning to taste.

1. Cook pasta as per instructions on the packet. Adding a spoonful of olive oil to the saucepan helps stop the pasta sticking together.
2. Whilst the pasta is cooking, whisk the dressing ingredients together.
3. Drain the pasta and rinse under cold water. Place in a serving bowl & Mix in the dressing, so that the pasta is well coated.
4. Slice & dice the cucumber & the radishes. Add to the pasta & mix in well.
5. Crumble the feta and sprinkle on the top. Decorate with the pomegranate seeds and some chopped up mustard cress.

SPEEDY LENTIL SPAG BOL

I often have a batch of this lentil Bolognese in my fridge. It's good on toast (instead of beans on toast) with baked potatoes, or rice as well as with spaghetti.
Serves 2-3

1 400g can green lentils
250g tomato pasta sauce. (Or use the tomato soup recipe in this book)
1 shallot, peeled.
50g mushrooms
1 stick of celery
1 carrot
2 tablespoons light olive oil

1. Peel, slice & dice the shallot. Chop up the celery, mushrooms & the carrot. Chop the carrot nice & small as it takes longer to cook than the other vegetables.

2. Add 2 tablespoons light olive oil & 2 tablespoons water to a frying pan & turn the heat to medium high. Add the vegetables & stir fry until the vegetables have softened and are starting to brown.

3. Drain & rinse the can of lentils. Place them in a saucepan with the tomato sauce. Add the vegetables. Simmer for about 15 mins. Season to taste.

4. For the pasta, use whatever GF spaghetti you like. I use 75g pasta per person. Cook as per instructions. I always add a spoonful of light olive oil to the saucepan to stop the pasta sticking together.

5. Drain the pasta, and serve with the Bolognese. Top with fresh basil, cheese, vegan cheese or Houmous (as shown above.)

6. Leftovers make a good lunch with tortilla chips...….and more Houmous!