Gf pasta with Teff flour and Mushroom

Last week I was in Venice for work and made a stop at Mea Libera tutti! gluten free shop to have a chat with my friend Azzurra, owner of Mea, and discover what is new on gluten free as Azzurra is always looking for the newest and best products available on the market.

I decided to buy and try some gluten free pasta made of teff flour: these paccheri looked just so beautiful to me and I couldn’t resist them !! Besides teff is one of the oldest gluten free grains, it comes from Africa and it is believed it was domesticated between 4000 BC and 1000 BC.

Even though teff is the smallest grain in the world, it packs a serious nutritional punch with protein, fiber, and calcium contents much higher than other grains. It is what we call it today a super food!

Back in Paris, I decided to create a recipe that is very easy to make, vegetarian, vegan and full of taste.

Let’s clean the mushroom gently : I never put them under water not to wash off their flavour – I use a little brush or a kitchen cloth.

Once done slice them along with the cherry tomatoes.

Cut two cloves of garlic in half (you can also chop it if you like to feel more the flavour of garlic in the dish).

Take a large non-stick pan, add 4 table spoons of extra virgin olive oil and the garlic and start cooking over low heat. When the garlic turns slightly gold, remove it and add the cherry tomatoes (if you have chosen to chop the garlic, then leave it in the pan). Turn up the heat. Add a pinch of salt. Stir gently.

When the tomatoes get tender, add the mushroom, a pinch of salt and continue to stir. Mine took a couple of minutes to cook. Once ready turn the heat off and put the pan aside.

Let’s start cooking the pasta: put one large pot with water over medium heat. When the water is about to boil, add the pasta and then a pinch of salt.

As a personal advice, don’t to trust the minutes written on the package to cook it, it is very rare that they correspond to how you like the pasta (al dente or not). I suggest to do it as I do, start tasting the pasta after the first 3/4 minutes… it helps 🙂

Clean some parsley and chop it.

Once the pasta is ready, drip it and put it in a large bowl. Add the mushroom, the cherry tomatoes, one table spoon of extra virgin olive oil per person and the parsley. Mix the ingredients gently together.

Serve the pasta in a dish by adding some leaves of fresh parsley to decorate it.

Buon Appetito!

To read my older post on Mea Libera Tutti! gluten free shop:

http://bacididamaglutenfree.com/en/portfolio/mea-libera-tutti/

pS: if you can’t find teff flour pasta, some buckwheat one will make it beautifully as well.