Because wheat-based pasta dishes are so much heavier to digest than gluten free pasta they give the illusion of a filling meal, particularly the ones with vegetarian sauces such as this one with cauliflower, peas, mint and quinoa. So the challenge was to find another ingredient that would “beef up” these dishes and also increase the quantity of vegetables.

This recipe is based on one from Matt Moran’s When I Get Home—which originally included panko breadcrumbs (to give a crunchy texture to the dish)—but replaces the breadcrumbs with quinoa to make it gluten free and also adds cream to make more of a sauce.

We think it’s pretty tasty.

Ingredients

1 tbs butter
¾ cup quinoa flakes
250g gluten free pasta (we like San Remo spirals made with maize, potato, soy and rice flours)
½ large cauliflower, cut into small florets
1–1½ cups peas
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
¾–1 cup cream
2 tbs olive oil
Handful of mint leaves, finely chopped
1 cup finely grated pecorino cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Melt the butter over medium heat in a large sauté pan and add the quinoa flakes. Fry till golden brown and crispy. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Bring some water to the boil for the pasta and cook to the directions on the packet.

Heat the olive oil to the pan and add the cauliflower florets. Cook until golden brown and softened (around 8 minutes). You can add a couple of tablespoons of water to the pan to help soften the cauliflower. Stir through the garlic and peas, and cook for 1 minute. Add the cream and bring to a simmer. Add the cooked pasta, toasted quinoa flakes, mint and pecorino cheese. Stir until all the cheese has melted.

Season with freshly ground salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

What you’ll need:

1 bunch baby asparagus (any coarse ends removed)
300g fresh baby peas, shelled
A handful of fresh English spinach leaves
A small handful of freshly picked mint leaves
Juice of half a lemon
4 tbs extra virgin olive oil
80g soft feta or goat’s cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring a small pot of water to the boil on the stove. Once boiling, add the asparagus and shelled peas and blanch for 45 seconds to 1 minute. Drain and immediately place vegetables in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process (you want them to still be firm, not soggy).

Place the spinach and mint leaves in a bowl. Remove the asparagus and peas from the ice water and drain. Add to the spinach and mint. Season with salt and pepper, squeeze the lemon juice over the top, drizzle with the olive oil and toss to coat the vegetables.

Arrange the vegetables on a serving platter and crumble the feta or goat’s cheese over the top. Serve immediately.

To pack the soup full of flavour, it’s really important to cook the shallots and mint slowly on a low heat. All the crunch should be gone from the shallots. They should be soft and golden, and starting to pull apart into threads. It’s also important to go light on salt in the soup itself. Remember, you’ll be adding prosciutto at the end, which is quite salty. You want a creamy soup with just a hint of sweetness, crunchy croutons and salty, crisp prosciutto for a perfectly balanced dish.

Ingredients:

½ loaf of stale ciabatta
Olive oil
1 large handful of fresh mint, leaves picked and chopped
12 slices of thin prosciutto
1 bunch of spring onions, ends trimmed and finely chopped
2 tbs butter
500g frozen peas
500ml chicken stock
500ml chicken consommé
½ cup thickened cream
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method:

Break the bread into irregular 2–3cm pieces. Put these into a roasting tray and drizzle with a little olive oil; toss to coat. Cover the bread with the prosciutto slices and place under a hot grill until the bread and prosciutto are crunchy and golden, around 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, slowly fry the spring onions and mint in the butter for until soft. Turn up the heat, add frozen peas and the chicken stock and consommé. Bring to the boil then lower the heat and simmer uncovered until slightly reduced. The key is to reduce the stock up to the point where the peas are still lovely and green, not green–grey, as this will end up the overall colour of your soup. With a stick blender (or in the food processor), puree the soup until it is smooth.

Add the cream and simmer gently until reduced, approximately 15–20 minutes. Season to taste.

Ladle the soup into bowls and sprinkle with bread, prosciutto and mint leaves (serves 4–6).

I am a massive fan of the humble pea. I think it comes from my childhood, helping Mum out by shelling the peas for dinner. They’re so sweet, fresh from the pod…it usually went something along the lines of one for me, one for the bowl. I also loved just-cooked peas with a bit of melted butter stirred through. Heaven!

Peas are delicious and so good for you. They’re an excellent source of dietary fibre and protein. They also provide vitamin C, niacin, folate, beta carotene, iron, zinc and potassium. That’s a lot of punch for something so small!

While most people opt for the convenience of frozen peas (after all, shelling peas is time-consuming), you can’t quite go past a fresh pea. They’re worth the effort because they taste so much better. I get excited when I see them at the greengrocer and yesterday I was even happier to see that broad beans were also available.

For me, that meant it was time to make one of my favourite lunches: smashed peas and broad beans on grilled ciabatta. Thank you, once again, Jamie At Home.

The dish is essentially the age-old combination of peas and mint, beefed up with broad beans, lemon and cheese, served on crusty toasted bread. Yum! Jamie suggests buffalo mozzarella on top but I prefer Persian feta.

It does look a bit like green mush when smashing it all up with the mortar and pestle but don’t be deterred, it is absolutely delicious and surprisingly filling.

It’s ideal for spring/summer because the mint and lemon juice are cool and refreshing with just the right amount of zing from grated pecorino. Pair it with a glass of pinot gris and now you’re really onto something extraordinary!