Green Soup Noodles -- Good For What Ails You part Deux

Well, I've already taunted you with tales of our delicious cold-fighting soup, so it's only fair that I now taunt you with these very easy to make noodles. These are our all-purpose noodles. Great as noodles with sauce. Great dough for making ravioli. Great in soup. Great tossed with a little coconut oil and sea salt and eaten with your fingers if you are a toddler. 

They are made with spinach, almond flour, and kamut flour, and are high in protein, no refined carbs, high in fiber, and taste really good. Unless you hate the colour green, in which case you might think they taste terrible. Really, though, they taste like noodles.

The process for making these noodles is very easy, however I have to say that the many step procedure for cutting the dough might make the whole undertaking seem like more work than it really is. Seriously, the hardest part was stopping to take pictures. And the most time consuming part was unrolling the spirals. Note to self: bully someone else into doing that next time.

This recipe is easiest using a food processor, however if you have a blender to puree the spinach, you can certainly do the mixing of the rest by hand. And you don't need a pasta roller to roll out these noodles. I like a noodle with bit of tooth, so I don't roll it out to transparent thinness anyway. A rolling pin works great and you're done in a jiffy. That's the theme of my cooking, you've probably noticed. It's gotta be fast ...

ingredients:

150 g frozen organic spinach, defrosted

1 organic egg (xl or l)

1/2 cup almond flour

1 tsp sea salt

1 1/2 cups (up to 2 cups) kamut flour (add the last 1/2 cup a bit at a time)

directions:

1. in a food processor, puree the defrosted spinach. If you are using fresh spinach, let me know how it turns out.

2. add the egg and combine

3. add the sea salt and almond meal, and combine

4. add 1 1/2 cups kamut flour, and pulse to combine. if more flour is needed to make a dough, add it a bit at a time. however, 1 1/2 cups might be enough to make a dough that is not too sticky.

5. gather the dough into a ball, flatten, wrap, and set aside to 'rest'.

6. divide the dough into 4 parts

7. roll each part on a mat sprinkled with kamut flour, using a rolling pin sprinkled with kamut flour.

8. if the dough is too sticky, add more kamut flour

9. roll the dough out until it is nice and thin

10. make sure the surface is well sprinkled with kamut flour, and roll it up 

11. set the roll aside and repeat with the other portions of dough

12. once all the portions of dough have been rolled up, cut them into spirals using a sharp chef's knife or bread knife (I prefer a bread knife because the serrated blade makes this task easier)

13. uncoil the spirals and lay them out

14. put the noodles in boiling water spiked with oil, and cook for 2 minutes

15. remove the noodles, put them into bowls, and ladle hot soup over them

16. store extra uncooked noodles in an airtight container

variation: Just for fun (and extra substance since my son refuses sauce with his noodles), I decided to increase the almond meal to 1 cup instead of 1/2. Because I added the kamut flour last, this didn't affect things, and only very slightly reduced the flour content. Also, I ran out of kamut, and had to add in a little whole wheat pastry. Which worked fine. They always seem to taste the same. And texture wise, they were brilliant. As always.

Ready to roll

Nice and thin

Rolling up the rolled out dough

A spiral

Three rolled up portions of dough

Cutting them efficiently with a serrated blade

Spirals before they are unrolled

After the unrolling, and ready to boil

The noodles close up

Ready to put away for tomorrow, uncooked

Cooked, and ready to eat, or to put soup on!

Stuffed Pasta -- here's the recipe for real this time

Well, I'm about to share with you one of my most personally prized recipes. After much trial and error, I came up with a pasta dough that is super easy to make, unbelievably good for you, has a wonderful texture, and tastes divine. Even my husband, who is usually pretty lackadaisical about food (to my chagrin -- sometimes I want him to get a little bit more excited about the things I make) was impressed. He said it was the best thing he'd ever eaten in his life.

I use a food processor to make the dough. I know traditionalists take a big pile of flour and make a well in it. But I am definitely pushing away the boundaries of traditional pasta.

ingredients:

150 grams frozen spinach, defrosted. (I suppose you could use fresh spinach if you like, but I always just keep a few bags of organic spinach in the freezer for convenience. You'll have to be careful about the quantity of flour added if you use fresh)

1 egg

1/2 cup almond flour

1 tsp sea salt

dash nutmeg

dash black pepper

1 1/2 to 2 cups kamut pastry flour (whole grain)

directions:

1. pulse the spinach in the food processor until it is a green gooey mass of puree

2. add the egg, almond flour, sea salt, and black pepper, and whirl until  combined

3. add the first 1 1/2 cups of flour and pulse until combine. add the remaining flour a little at a time and pulse until the dough forms a firm ball. once the ball forms, don't add any more flour.

4.  wrap in parchment followed by a plastic bag, and set it aside to rest.

meanwhile, there is filling to make!

I made a lovely filling by sauteing some shallots in coconut oil, allowing them to cool, then mixing that into ricotta, a couple of eggs, seasoning it with sea salt, pepper, and some herbs. My two year old turned his nose up at it and refused to eat it.

So, this time I kept it very simple:

simple ricotta filling:

ingredients:

1 400 g container ricotta

2 eggs

1/2 cup almond flour

1/4 cup grated parmesan (there's this cheese guy at the Riverdale Farmer's Market who sells the most amazing raw milk parmigiano reggiano -- swoon)

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp marjoram

1/2 tsp oregano

dash of nutmeg

dash of black pepper

directions:

1. combine and season  to taste :) 

You can also do a more complicated filling if you prefer. My mother in law can't eat dairy, so I made a filling from roasted portabellas, shiitakes, oyster mushrooms, and walnuts, jumped up with some roasted garlic and roasted red onion. The whole thing sang nicely with the addition of some ground hemp seeds, almond meal, nutritional yeast, a dash of lemon juice, and apple cider vinegar. Very yummy. But any roasted vegetables could work.

And now the moment you've been waiting for -- the making of the stuffed pasta.

directions:

1. divide your dough into 15 gram balls using a kitchen scale. Or, if you are not as ocd as I am, you can just make smallish balls of dough. A little less than an inch in diameter is good.

2. keeping the balls covered by parchment topped by a damp cloth as you work so they don't dry out, roll them out and fill them, one by one. I guess they roll out to about 2 1/2 or 3 inches in diameter

3. the dough is a little sticky, but I wouldn't add extra flour. Just work quickly so your rolling pin doesn't get dry and crusty.

4. Put some filling near the center of the circle of dough. A little spoonful will do it.

5. fold the dough over itself in half, and press the edges tight. I actually find this easiest to do by picking it up and pinching the edges together

6. Avoid over-filling the dough, or you won't get a good seal, and there will be hell to pay when you boil  the pasta.

7. I do a quick press on both sides with the times of a fork. Who knows if this does anything. But it looks cute.

8. As I work, I line up the finished pasta on a lined baking sheet. You don't want them to stack, because they will stick to each other. They freeze really well, and can be boiled from frozen in about 15 minutes. To freeze, put the filled baking sheet in the freezer until the pasta is frozen through. It can then be bagged and tagged appropriately, to be used when your in-laws come for dinner an you want to impress them.

9. you can also use them the same day. To store for a few hours, put them in layers separated by parchment (including underneath them) in an airtight container in the fridge. 

10. To cook from fresh, bring a largish pot of water to a boil (put a little olive oil in the water). When the water has reached a boil, add the pasta. Once the water returns to the boil, cook for 2 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon. You can either toss them in a pan with a little tomato sauce, or simply top them with our favourite tomato sauce (or top them with a little olive oil (or coconut oil) and parmesan). If you like pesto, hey, why not? 

11. serve with a little pride and your favourite salad 

12. My son was impressed because the cross section is vaguely fish shaped, and he thought they were fun to eat when I cut them up for him ... 

Basta Pasta -- Simple Baked Pasta

When we were up on Lake Huron this summer, I went to the local store for ingredients to make a quick baked pasta. They had no organic ricotta, nor did they have organic cottage cheese. I found some quark, of which I had never hitherto heard. It turned out to be a lucky accident, as this made the creamiest, most fabulous baked pasta EVER.

(I like this kind of baked pasta over lasagna for a quick weekday meal because it's very simple to throw together)


ingredients:

2 cloves garlic
3 small onions
8 medium tomatoes
'
1 small package mozzarella
1 container quark
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk

2 packages rigatoni or fusilli (whole grain)

sea salt to taste
herbs
black pepper
extra virgin coconut oil


directions:

1.   sauté garlic in plenty of coconut oil (1/4 cup)
2.   add onion and sea salt and cook to translucence
3.   add tomatoes and cook

4.   grate mozzarella, mix with quark and eggs, add milk, sea salt and herbs, black pepper

5.   soak uncooked pasta in cold water for 5 minutes and then drain

6.   mix pasta with hot tomato sauce, then stir in cheese mixture

7.  put into large rectangular (lightly oiled) pan, pressing in with scraper

8. cover top of with milk to ensure all pasta is submerged

9.  bake at 345 for 50 minutes. Allow time for it to set after it comes out of the oven

(optional: grate some parmesan on top before baking)

Last night we made a quick baked pasta dinner just based on what we had lying around:

ingredients:

1 cup cooked cauliflower

1 cup frozen spinach

1 carrot

2 boxes (375 g) of whole grain fusili

2 cups of (frozen) tomato sauce (see pizza post for recipe)

1 500g package of pressed cottage cheese (or 1 container of ricotta, or cottage cheese)

1 cup of milk

1 cup of grated mozarella

1/4 cup grated parmesan

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 cup blanched almond meal

2 eggs

sea salt

black pepper

nutmeg

oregano

1 cup milk

1/4 cup grated parmesan

directions:

1. puree cauliflower, spinach, and carrot

2. mix  pureed vegetables with cheeses, eggs, sauce, and 1st cup of milk

3. add in nutritional yeast and almond meal

4. add salt, pepper, nutmeg, and oregano to taste

5. soak uncooked pasta for 5 minutes in cold water, and then drain

6. mix pasta into cheese mixture, and scoop/pour into an oiled rectangular baking dish

7. sprinkle the second 1/4 cup of grated parmesan on the top, and pour the 2nd 1 cup of milk over the top to make sure all bits of pasta are covered

10. bake at 345 for 50-60 mintues

11. allow to set before serving.

Basically, you can get the picture that I pillaged my freezer and pantry for whatever I had, and threw it in. It turned out high in protein, with a decent amount of vegetables in it. Anyway, judging by how quickly my picky eaters wolfed it down, it tasted great. Don't be afraid to be creative, just don't put too much of something in so that it overwhelms the rest of the ingredients. If you don't have the exact ingredients, you can probably find something that will work instead, just as well, or simply do without.

I thought I'd add a footnote that this particular one turned out wonderfully, and like most baked pastas, was even better the next day. And, you can easily divide it into portions and freeze them individually to be pulled out of the freezer for quick meals whenever you need.