It’s too beautiful a day to write a sad story about great gluten-free fusilli.
So I’m going to leave the sad parts out about the context of this meal, and concentrate on the swirls of pasta that extruded from my pasta maker a couple weeks ago.
I do love my pasta maker. It was a gift from a friend whose friend had decided to open a cafe and serve fresh pasta, then changed her mind and ended up with a small electric pasta maker that mixes and extrudes dough in any any shape and size. I can make anything from orecchiette to penne to lasagna noodles. And the most miraculous thing is that it works almost as well with gluten-free dough as it does with the regular kind. Nothing sticks or falls apart like when you make gluten-free pasta by hand. So gluten-free-ers, invest in a machine and the Italian part of your life will be much happier.
My recipe is inspired by Gluten-free-girl and the Chef’s (it’s worth reading the whole article because it’s adorable), with a couple tweaks. The key really is psyllium husk powder, which glues everything together much better than tapioca and tons of oil. And it’s great fibre. Yup. That means what you think it means. Unfortunately, it’s hard to find and often only comes in large packages. But it lasts a long time in the fridge and you only use a tiny bit of it per recipe.
Gluten-Free Fusilli with Tomato Sauce
Get out the scale! You need to do this by weight for the best results. But, really, who’s going to stop you?
4 1/2 ounces brown rice flour (approx. 1 cup + 2 tbsp)
4 1/2 ounces tapioca starch (approx. 1 cup + 2 tbsp)
1 teaspoon psyllium husk powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 extra-large egg
3 egg yolks from extra-large eggs
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2-5 tablespoons water
3 cups tomato sauce (store-bought or, preferably, homemade)
Mix together the brown rice flour, tapioca starch, psyllium powder and salt in the pasta maker or food processor.
In a medium bowl, whisk the egg, egg yolks, 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of the water. Follow the pasta maker instructions for adding the liquid to the flour with the motor running (mine I have to pour it in through a grate on the top). If you’re using a food processor, pour in the liquids and pulse the machine 8 to 10 times. The dough is ready when it’s formed small pea-sized crumbs. If it’s sandy, add water a tablespoon at a time, letting it combine for 30 seconds after each addition (or a couple pulses in the food processor). If it’s too wet, add more flour a tablespoon at a time.
Now the magic part: if you’re using an electric machine, place the heated pasta die of your choice on the front and press that wonderful button that makes it extrude, cutting the pasta pieces at your desired length.
Marvel at how easy it is to make fusilli.
If not using a machine, turn the dough out onto a dry, clean surface and prepare to settle for linguine instead of spiral fusilli. (Note that a hand-cranked pasta machine will be a disaster with crumbly gluten-free flour…)
Place a piece of parchment paper on a flat counter. Sprinkle flour on top. Form the dough into 4 balls and place one on the paper. Top with a large piece of plastic wrap and roll out with a rolling pin until it’s very, very thin. Remove plastic wrap on top. Slice noodles to your desired thickness (use a sharp knife coated in flour. I used a sashimi knife…Overkill?).
Heat a large pot of salted water and boil about 2-3 minutes, or until al dente. Drain. Serve with pasta sauce.
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