DeBoles has two new products for its gluten-free line of pasta products.  The older variety of gluten free products are made with either rice or corn.  The new variety is a multi grain blend of quinoa, rice, and amaranth.  Sounds healthy, sounds tasty…hmmm. I spent some time with the new multi grain penne and multi grain spaghetti, and actually encountered a couple of challenges along the way.

The first problem I encountered was cooking the products.  The ingredients that make up the pasta make it brittle, and unless the it’s perfectly cooked, the final product either ends up chewy or into broken little pieces.  The first batch of penne and spaghetti I cooked came out overcooked and torn, the second batch was chewy and starchy.  It took a few more tries to find the equilibrium I wanted, and I still have some trouble cooking it.

Looks like any other kind of whole grain and multi grain pasta right out of the box.

The cooking instructions for both products are as follows: Boil 4 quarts water.  Add contents of this package to boiling water; stir gently until water boils again.  Cook 4-6 minutes or until al dente-do not overcook.  Drain and rinse with cold water. For those of us who are used to cooking regular pasta, we all know that cooking times are different for each variety of pasta, and the results are pretty much on par with the cooking instructions printed on the box.  However, the cooking instructions for the gluten free pasta and spaghetti should be taken with a grain of salt.  Cooking the penne for 6 minutes yielded an al-dente bite, yet cooking the spaghetti for the same time yielded broken spaghetti.  What’s more, the pasta has to be rinsed with cold water immediately after cooking, or it’ll be clumped together by this starchy and sticky residue.  It should also be noted that the pasta should be rinsed gently, a strong stream of water will break the pasta as well.

Cooked for 6 minutes and the penne is a bit broken.

I prefer eating my pasta tossed with olive oil, butter, and a bit of salt.  That’s where I encountered my second problem.  Tossing the pasta in a sauté pan with the aforementioned ingredients broke it up into even smaller pieces.  While a fork is perfectly adequate to eat with, having a spoon to scoop up the scattered pieces doesn’t hurt.

When cooked correctly, the penne still lacks the bounciness and bite than that of regular pasta, but as a gluten free alternative, it isn’t that bad. The spaghetti on the other hand, seems to be lacking and needs more work.  I’ll eat the gluten free spaghetti after I finish my boxes of Barilla pasta.

I recommend the penne over the spaghetti, but it’s going to take some finesse to cook it properly.  For me, desired results came from cooking the penne pasta for about 5 minutes and 30 seconds in medium boiling water, rinsed gently with cold water, and set aside for 5-6 minutes to rest.  It’s a bit of work for cooking pasta and who knew something so simple would be so challenging.

Cost ranges from $1.50 to $2.50 a box. So far, I’ve only seen them at Whole Foods.

~ Kin