Gluten Free Pasta Salad

A few months ago my mom was diagnosed with Celiac Disease.  If you’re unfamiliar with Celiac, that’s okay, I’ll give you a brief tid-bit.  Elisabeth Hasselbeck brought awareness to it a few years ago with her book, The G-Free Diet. Basically, people with celiac are allergic to glutens.  Glutens release a toxin that gets into the small intestine which doesn’t allow food to break down, causing serious pain and discomfort.  Yummy, right?

The problem is that glutens are everywhere, found in things you would never think possible: soy sauce, salad dressing, salsa, deli meats, traces can even be found in jarred spices.  Of course, there are the more obvious places glutens are found like pasta, baked goods, tortillas, and on and on.

What’s a life without pasta though?  And soft tacos?  And cake?  And pie?  That’s absurd!  Thankfully, there are companies like General Mills who make an incredible amount of gluten-free items like cereals, cake mixes, snack bars, vegetables and soups.  Bob’s Red Mill makes a fantastic gluten-free all-purpose flour that’s a great substitute for plain old (wheat based) flour.  Did you know regular all-purpose flour was wheat?

I’ve made it my  mission to come up with recipes that are just as satisfying as the good-old-recipes but won’t cause harm to mom.  Besides, it’s a genetic disease so time is ticking for me too.  I might as well walk into this with an arsenal of yummy dishes.

We had a family dinner last night and I made a gluten-free pasta salad for mom so she could have a little BBQ, minus the sauce.  It turned out pretty well, I hope you enjoy!

G-Free Pasta Salad
Original Recipe

1 box Rice Penne Pasta
For the Dressing:
3 cloves garlic, crushed
3 T white wine vinegar
2 T Dijon mustard
1/2 c olive oil
Salt & Pepper
3 sprigs fresh thyme, chopped
1 sprig fresh rosemary, chopped
1 T capers, drained
Salad Fixins:
1/2 head of green or purple cabbage, shredded
1 can olives, sliced
1/2 cucumber, chopped
1/2 red onion, sliced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 ball fresh mozzarella, cubed or 1 package mozzarella pearls

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil, cook pasta according to package directions.*  Drain and rinse well.

In a large bowl, whisk all of the dressing ingredients together except the olive oil.   Slowly drizzle the olive oil in until thickened.

Mix everything together in a large bowl, making sure to coat everything with the salad dressing.  Chill at least 4 hours or overnight.

*I found I had to cook the rice pasta a bit longer than the package instructs and it was still a little too al-dente for my taste.  The pasta itself is great, especially when warm.

Also: I always scratch my heat and wonder why all of the ingredients in a salad have to be cut uniformly.  I like different textures in my pasta salad, but if you like everything uniform, feel free to either slice everything or chop everything.

Back tomorrow for a killer (and super easy) baked bean recipe that would compliment any traditional Independence Day shin-dig you’re attending.