Review: Catelli Gluten Free pasta + win a case of pasta!

Catelli Gluten Free Fusilli

Disclosure: I received a free sample box of Catelli Gluten Free pasta, in order to try the product. I did not receive any financial compensation for this post.

Although I don’t follow a gluten-free diet, as a vegetarian I’ve always related to those who also follow restricted diets. Way back in 2005, I worked with a woman who told me she had Celiac disease and that she had to avoid foods with wheat in them. It sounded simple at first, until I learned just how many products had wheat in them, she even had to avoid certain sauces as they contained wheat ingredients. As Celiac disease wasn’t very common at that time, she rarely ate in restaurants and she used to order special cookies, crackers and special pastas from the U.S. I once tried a dish she had made with rice pasta and I was not impressed with the flavour or the texture. I loved pasta (I still do) and I felt sorry for her as the rice pasta just didn’t have the flavour or texture that regular pasta had.

Back then, she had a lot of difficulty finding tasty gluten-free alternatives. Thankfully, nowadays Celiac disease and the gluten-free lifestyle have come to the forefront in the past few years. I’ve seen quite a few restaurants offering gluten-free options and there are grocery store sections dedicated to gluten-free products!

I was recently contacted by a rep from Catelli about their new Catelli Gluten Free pasta. After my bad experience with rice pasta and my excellent experiences with Catelli’s regular pasta line, something told me that they would have come up with a great product. The box arrived the following day and since I’m a design and packaging geek (I used to work in the printing industry) I immediately noticed the bold and beautiful colours they used. According to Catelli, their gluten free pasta is a “Unique 4 natural grain blend is made with the finest quality white and brown rice, corn and quinoa blended for a delicious taste and smooth texture that will surprise and delight your entire family.” Also important to note – Catelli Gluten Free pasta is produced in a dedicated gluten free facility and is certified by the Canadian Celiac Association.

I was ready to banish the bad rice pasta memories, so I decided to toss the pasta with kale sautéed in garlic and onion, along with a crumbled and pan fried vegan sausage, one of my favourite combinations. The results: Absolutely delicious. The pasta had a nice flavour and a smooth texture to it. It wasn’t exactly like regular pasta but it was pretty close! The only thing I noticed was that it crumbled up a little more than regular pasta, but that was likely due to the composition of it. The pasta didn’t feel heavy in my stomach afterwards, which was terrific too.

Catelli Gluten Free pasta with kale, garlic, onion and vegan sausage

Was it love at first sight/bite? Yes, I would definitely buy this product again. Nicely done Catelli!

To learn more about Catelli Gluten Free pasta, visit: http://www.catelli.ca/pasta/gluten-free

COUPON: Here’s a link to a special coupon to save $1 off of a box of Catelli Gluten Free pasta. https://www.websaver.ca/en_ca/portal/catelli_gluten/

CONTEST:

The fine folks at Catelli want to give one reader of Milk & Eggs a case (12 boxes!) of Catelli Gluten Free pasta! That’s right, A WHOLE CASE!

TO ENTER:

Answer the following questions in the comments section, below this post:  What’s your favourite pasta shape? What’s your favourite way to eat it?  P.S. Don’t forget to include your Twitter handle or Facebook name or blog site address so I’ll know how to reach you!

OR

Tweet your answer on Twitter, using hashtag #CatelliGF and my Twitter handle @savvari

For example: Hey @savvari, the best pasta shape is spaghetti and I love it with tomato sauce #CatelliGF

You can enter twice per day if you do both of the above!

Contest closes on Friday Dec 27 at 5 pm. The winner will be announced later that evening.

Note: You must be a resident of Canada to win. The case of Catelli Gluten Free pasta can only be mailed to a Canadian address. Good luck!

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Congrats to Fiona Thom for winning this contest!

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Spaghetti with Spicy Kale and Garlic

Spinach and rapini have always been my friends, especially in the past few years when my palate grew to appreciate the different ways I could use these two leafy vegetables. I was starting to get a little bored of them both, so I decided to dive deeper into the world of leafy greens and try to use kale in a dish. So, you’re probably wondering how I call myself a vegetarian if I’ve never bought kale before! Well, I am so glad I finally did because I think I found my new favourite leafy green! My apologies to my friend Mr.Rapini but I think I’m going to be seeing a lot more of Mr.Kale from now on….mmmm.

As an online recipe hunter, I found out that there are quite a few ways to make kale but I was craving a dish similar to one of my Italian favourites, pasta with rapini. I combined concepts from a few recipes and came up with the recipe below. I REALLY enjoyed it and I had it for dinner and also for my lunch the next day! I hope you will like it too! Please comment on my post and let me know how it turns out for you.

Spaghetti with Spicy Kale and Garlic

Preparation time : 5 min

Cooking time: 30 mins

Servings: 4 (approximately)

Ingredients:

500 g pack of dried spaghetti

Half a bunch of kale, stems and leaves coarsely chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 cloves garlic, chopped (or more if you want a stronger garlic flavour)

1 onion, chopped

1/2 teaspoon crushed red chilli flakes (or to taste)

1/2 cup of vegetable stock

Salt and fresh ground pepper

2 tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (the fresh kind, not the pre-grated powdery stuff!)

Directions:

Bring a large pot of fresh water to a boil. Add 3 teaspoons of salt and add the spaghetti. Cook, stirring occasionally, until spaghetti is al dente, approx. 8 to 10 minutes (or cook to your preference). Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water, then drain the pasta.

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, onion, chilli flakes and sautee for a few minutes until the onions are soft, stirring often. Take care not to burn the onions! Raise heat to high, add the vegetable stock and kale and toss to combine. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove cover and continue to cook, stirring until all the liquid has evaporated. Check the texture of the kale at this point. If you want it to be softer in texture, you may want to add a 1/4 cup of water to the pan, put the lid back on and cook it for a few more minutes. When it reaches the desired texture, season with salt and pepper to taste and add the balsamic vinegar. Mix well and reduce heat to low.

Add spaghetti to the saucepan with the kale in it, add a 1/4 cup of the pasta water and toss to combine. Check and adjust salt and pepper if needed. If the pasta mixture seems a bit dry, feel free to add a little more pasta water. Plate and serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese on top (again, the fresh kind, not the pre-grated powdery stuff!).

Enjoy!