GF Limone Pappardelle

Today, I saw the best pasta recipe from Amalfi, Italy via David Rocco's show.  Spaghetti al Limone is a dish indigenous to the Amalfi Coast because in this part of Italy the most flavorful and luxurious lemons  are grown 9 months out of the year. In this episode David showed different ways to highlight the lemon from main courses to desserts.  So, I felt inspired to make this recipe but of course being me I had to put my own little twist on this recipe not to mention I had to find a way to make it gluten free.

Obviously to make it gluten free I had to start with gluten free pasta. Well, I decided to make fresh pasta and rather than make a thin spaghetti I thought a thicker noodle would work very nicely with the lemon sauce. It also adds a heartier texture to make it seem more like a full meal without any protein added into the sauce.

I made a brown rice pasta recipe. (I created this recipe by amending the Gluten Free Gourmet's pasta recipe, check out her book if you're interested in another option).  This was my first experience with making homemade GF pasta, but I will definitely be working on creating some new recipes, any particular grain requests?

Kristen's Brown Rice Pappardelle:

1/3 cup Brown Rice Flour

1/4 cup Tapioca Flour

2 Tbsp. Potato Starch

1/2 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Xanthan or Guar Gum (if not available sub 1 packet of Gelatin)

1 Tbsp water 

2 Eggs

1. Combine all Flours, Starch, Salt, and Gum powder in a large bowl.  Mix with a fork and make a well.

2. In a small bowl beat eggs and water together.

3. Add eggs mixture to flour mixture.  Bring together with fork into a ball.

4. Flour a large work surface.  Knead dough about 10 times, roll out dough very thin, until it is nearly translucent.

5. With a pizza cutter cut dough into strips about 1/8 of an inch wide.

Bring 5-6 cups of water to a boil.  Add about a tablespoon of salt to the water.  Immediately add the pasta to water.  Keep stirring the pasta or the pot will boil over... fresh pasta will grow about 1 1/2 (sort of like dumplings) the size it was when it is finished cooking.  Cook for about 10-12 minutes.

Drain pasta quickly, but do not rinse.  You want to stop the pasta from soaking any more moisture but keep all the beautiful starches that cling to the noodle.  This will help the sauce thicken and cling to the pasta.

Here is where I pretty much followed David's recipe nearly verbatim....

After using his trick of rubbing the fresh garlic clove all over the inside of the serving bowl.  I squeezed the lemons in to the bowl. (a little tip, hold the lemon face up toward your palm and let the juice run down the rind) This does two things, first it holds the seeds inside the lemon, second it takes some of the oils of the rind into the juice as you're squeezing the lemon.

Then I added the olive oil.



David did this with a fork but I used a whisk to whip the lemon juice and olive oil together until they emulsified.

Add the pasta and toss until all the pasta is evenly coated with the sauce then add 1/2 of the cheese.

Add the parsley and the lemon zest.

Top with remaining cheese.

Serve and Enjoy!!!!

Okay like I said I have to put a little twist on just about any recipe.  I like simple flavors but honestly I needed a little more kick in this recipe so I added both freshly ground black pepper and crushed red pepper flakes... it was delicious!!!