Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Experiments in the Baking (Cooking) Arts: Gluten-Free Shells & Cheese

I decided to try my hand at making a gluten-free dish for my boss, whose husband recently passed away. And what better food than pasta with vodka sauce—grown up mac and cheese?

I decided to go with a vodka sauce recipe from Giada de Laurentiis, using a pre-made marinara sauce instead of the tomato sauce recipe she provided. It's pretty straightforward. I used more tomato sauce than the recipe called for simply because I didn't want the sauce to be too rich—I don't really see my boss eat that much in terms of cream sauces, even if she sprinkles parmesan cheese on her salads and veggies. It still came out okay, though probably not as thick as it should have been.

To be honest, I breathed a big sigh of relief when it came out tasty. There have been some horrible recipes on the Food Network shows over the years (Sandra Lee's Kwanzaa Cake, for example, is a full-blown Shakespearian tragedy of a dessert) and I didn't know if this would be one of them. Fortunately, Giada de Laurentiis fares better than Sandra Lee, at least in this case.

I baked the whole shebang (uncovered) at 350* F for twenty minutes, which you don't really have to do, I guess. Preliminary taste test yielded positive results, and Lawyer Mom agrees that it smells delicious. Yum!

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