Good morning and Happy Sunday!
Today I am going to share with you one of my favorite dinners. It is so creamy and flavorful you just can’t believe there is no cheese or dairy to be found! And it is easy making it great for a weeknight dinner, but it also has an elegance to it making it perfect for a date night dinner as well.
Please enjoy the following recipe and let me know how it worked for you! I know I am going to head to the store and pick up some basil to make this tonight.
Creamy Basil Pasta (Dairy Free & Gluten Free)
Serves 6-8
(adapted from: http://dairyfreecooking.about.com/od/creamsavorysauces/r/dfcreamybasilsc.htm)
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil, divided
- ¼ cup chopped Onion
- 1 clove Garlic, finely minced
- ½ cup fresh Basil
- 1 tbsp GF Flour (Rice flour works well as does Potato Flour)
- 2 cups unsweetened Rice or Coconut Milk
- ½ cup Raw Cashews
- 1 tbsp Nutritional Yeast
- ½ tsp Sea Salt, more or less to taste
- 1 lb Rice Pasta (or Quinoa Pasta)
As with every Gluten Free and Dairy Free recipe, make sure all ingredients you use are in fact Gluten and Dairy Free.
Directions:
1) In a large pot, begin heating enough water to cook your pasta. (Hint, add some salt here and your noodles won’t stick together.) Once the water is boiling add your pasta. Begin preparing he sauce while you ait for your water to boil. (Cook pasta according to their specific directions.)
2) Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Once oil is hot add the onion and garlic. Stirring often, cook until the onion is soft and fragrant (5-6 minutes). Add the fresh basil and cook until it is wilted and bright green (approx. 2 minutes). Remove from heat and transfer into a small bowl.
3) Using the same saucepan, heat the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil. Whisk in the GF Flour with a wire whisk and cook for a little less than a minute, until the flour starts smelling toasted, but is not burned. Gradually add the rice milk, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thickened. Add the basil mixture into the pan, stir until well combined, remove from heat and set aside.
4) Using a blender, process the raw cashews until the mixture resembles very fine, powdery crumbs. Add the basil mixture, nutritional yeast, and sea salt. Process until creamy. Return to saucepan and heat to desired temperature and consistency. Add more rice milk and sea salt to taste.
5) Add cooked pasta to the finished sauce, toss to coat all of the noodles, and serve warm. Garnish with fresh Basil if desired.
Happy Saturday!
*Stretch* Just waking up and getting around, but I thought I would start the day by sharing what it is that I plan to have for “breakfast” (who says you can’t have breakfast at noon?). PANCAKES! I must say that pancakes are my sons favorite food. And he can eat 5 or 6 of them if I let him (he just turned 4).
I normally beat my egg whites to a meringue texture and fold them into the batter at the end. This makes a fluffy pancake (in some cases you can omit the baking powder or baking soda in recipes). If you would rather have a flatter pancake just add the whole egg in and skip the separate bowl and beating eggs step below. And for you flat pancake lovers, keep an eye out for a crepe recipe once it resurfaces!
I hope you enjoy these pancakes as much as we do!
Happy eating!
Pancakes (Gluten Free and Dairy Free)
Ingredients:
1 cup rice flour
3 tbsp tapioca starch
1/3 cup potato starch
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp xanthan gum
Cinnamon and Nutmeg (to taste)
2 eggs
3 tbsp oil
2 cups water
1) In a large mixing bowl (with a separate bowl on the side for the egg whites) combine egg yolks, oil, and water until fully mixed. In the separate bowl, using an electric mixer (or a hand mixer if you are old-fashioned) beat the egg whites until stiff and peaks form*.
2) Combine dry ingredients into a small mixing bowl. Once dry ingredients are fully mixed combine them into the egg yolk mixture. Mix until fully combined. Fold in the egg whites.
NOTE: Do not completely mix in the egg whites. You want pockets of egg white to help create a fluffy pancake. So a lumpy batter is a fluffy batter.
3) Heat a griddle or cast iron pan with some oil (to prevent sticking) over medium-low heat.
4) Once the griddle or pan is hot (test by flicking a few drops of water onto the pan, if it sizzles its good) spoon approximately 1/3 cup the batter onto the pan. Once the top surface has an amount of broken bubbles it is time to flip. After 1-2 minutes test for doneness by pushing into the center of the pancake with your spatula, a done pancake will spring back up. If it doesn’t spring back up let it sit for another minute before checking again.
Cooking times vary on pan used and stove.
5) Serve warm with non-dairy butter, syrup, or jellies (or honey, brown sugar, peanut butter or plain yogurt for dairy eaters).
Makes approximately 1 dozen 4-5 inch pancakes.
(No beaten egg whites here, flat pancakes per mom's request :)
*If you have never separated egg yolk from egg whites before you can either skip this step or here are some directions that may help you:
Crack the egg open carefully so you have 2 intact halves.
Hold the halves over an empty bowl and let the egg white fall out of he side without the yolk.
Transfer the egg yolk into the now empty side, letting the egg white slowly leak out. Basically you are draining the egg white out.
Transfer the egg yolk back into the other half to let any of the white that collected drop, and put the egg yolk into the bowl containing your wet ingredients.
Be careful not to let any yolk fall into the egg white, if there is yolk or any other substance present the whites wont stiffen up or peak like hey should.
To get the egg whites to stiffen you use a beater and beat them for 5-10 minutes (depending on if you are using an electric or hand mixer), they will increase in mass and create a foam like substance right before it begins to stiffen. You can stop beating and test by raising the beaters out and creating “peaks” in the egg whites. If you can’t get stiff peaks to form you will need to beat the whites a little bit longer.
