| 5 march 2002 | speltghetti As the weeks go by, I'm sure most of you are making this note to yourselves: never, ever eat dinner at Kim's house. And if you don't like things like spinach, whole grains, organic hoo-ha, and soy delicacies--well, yeah. Eat somewhere else. I like pasta a lot, but I have to be careful with it. Regular pastas are often made either with egg, or some such other thing that doesn't agree with me. Especially since all of this allergy treatment has begun, I've cut it almost entirely from my diet, since it just seemed like too much of a strain on my system. Then I got a hankering for spaghetti. A big one. Now, in the past I've tried rice pasta. After waiting...and waiting...for it to boil, I was left with two things:
Rice pasta in all its forms was an unmitigated disaster. Then Linda recommended that I try spelt pasta. I had nothing to lose, even though at first glance it was pretty unappetizing. It is, after all, brown and kind of gritty-looking. Which is fine for, you know, dirt. I'll make a lot of dietary compromises, but damn if I get excited over some dirt-looking spaghetti. Nonetheless, into the basket it goes, next to the mega-ultra-garlic-o-munga pasta sauce. That'll fix it. I arrive home, kiss the kitties hello, and sequester myself in the kitchen. Bring pot of water to rapid boil. Dump in spelt noodles. Cook for 8-10 minutes. In the meantime, doctor up that pasta sauce with some spinach, tofu crumbles , and more garlic . Downtown Winston-Salem is now a vampire-free zone. Time's up, and so far, so good. The water is still...er...water-colored. Pasta noodles are moving independently of one another, and have faded to a more-edible beige color. I drain the pot, dump the sauce onto the spaghetti, and mix it all together. Into the bowl it goes. Cats have now moved to a garlic-free spot under the bed. Like cat food smells so good, right? I dig in, and this stuff isn't bad! In fact, I like it better than regular old spaghetti! It's got more texture, more flavor, and the sauce sticks to it well. Twenty minutes later, I'm full but not comatose, and not wheezing. Yum-my! Considering that I haven't cared too much for spelt bread in the past (too dry and heavy for my tastes), this is a nice suprise. Especially for people who follow the Eat Right for Your Type plan, especially types A and O, it may be well worth your while to investigate these spelt pastas for yourself. I got mine at Whole Foods, but with ever-diversifying American diets, you can probably find some at your neighborhood grocery. In my area, I'm certain they also sell it at Lowe's (not the hardware store, you.) If nothing else, the spelt pasta I had was way less of a carbo load than conventional pasta, probably because you eat less of it. It's much more substantial, flavorful, and just an interesting twist to the usual spaghetti dinner. Even without the two extra tablespoons of garlic I added, it's still darn good. VitaSpelt |
