Pasta Plus Five

I’m sure we all do all our part to help the less fortunate at least part of the year. Usually around Christmas, right? Yeah, me too. But food banks need donations all year round, not just around the holidays. Summer is their slowest time for donations. Right now, almost 850,000 Canadians across the country are assisted by food banks each month, and more than a third of those people are under eighteen.

So, what can you do to help?

Catelli, who makes the best gluten-free pasta available (Sorry Rizopia), has made a cookbook with fifteen Canadian chefs. The cookbook is completely free, and available at www.catelli.ca or from their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/catelli. The cookbook is called Catelli^® Pasta Plus Five and for every share that the cookbook gets, Catelli is donating a serving of pasta. All of the recipes only need the pasta plus five other ingredients, although some of them have a few more ingredients for dressing and garnish.

This is what it looks like!

I downloaded the cookbook last night, and it has everything, from cold pasta salad to healthy family suppers. The recipes look complicated and gourmet, but they’re much easier than it would seem. There really is something for everyone.

This book is just one part of Catelli’s Help Us Feed the Hope program. They also donate one serving of pasta to a food bank for every box of their pasta purchased from now until June. Their goal is to donate a million servings of pasta to people in need. Like I said, Catelli makes the best gluten-free pasta, and I’ve tried many, many kinds. If that’s not your speed, they have a really wide range of other pastas available. For any of these recipes you can just swap out the recommended pasta for one you prefer.

One of the chefs involved in the project is Don Guthro, from Vancouver, who provides tuition-free culinary training for at-risk youths and adults at his North Shore Culinary School. I think his recipe is my favorite. I included it below, but I encourage you to go download and share the cookbook for more recipes.

Chef Don Guthro, looking chef-y.

I don’t think kids anywhere should go hungry, much less in our own backyard. I mean, you already buy pasta, so why not buy pasta that gives back?

Summer Salmon BBQ Pasta Salad

Chef Don Guthro, North Shore Culinary School, Vancouver

Doesn't this look tasty?

Prep time: 30 min

Cook time: 15 min

Servings: 4

Ingredients: 

1 pkg (375 g)                          Catelli Smart^® Penne

4 pieces (4.5 – 5 oz each)    salmon fillets (skin on if cooking on the BBQ)

3                                              medium-sized pink or red grapefruits

1 cup (128 g)                          carrots, chopped or shredded

1 cup (100 g)                          candied pecans

16                                            large leaves of Boston Butter lettuce

Dressing:

½ cup (125 ml)                       grapefruit juice (reserved from fruit)

¼ cup (60 ml)                         white balsamic vinegar

¼ cup (60 ml)                         canola oil or olive oil (or a combination of both)

½ tsp (3 g)                              ground chili pepper or chili flakes

1 ½ tsp (9 g)                           fresh dill weed

Garnish:

1 tsp of chopped fresh parsley

Instructions:

Step 1: Prepare the Catelli Smart^® Penne according to the package directions.

Step 2: While the pasta is cooking, peel and cut the grapefruits between the membranes to release the segments. Reserve the juice for the dressing.

Step 3: Chop or shred the carrots.

Step 4: Combine the dressing ingredients in a separate bowl.

Step 5: Drain the pasta and combine with carrots and dressing. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Step 6: Pan fry or BBQ the salmon fillets, cooked to medium.

Step 7: Arrange the lettuce leaves on plates and spoon pasta salad on top. Place one salmon fillet on top of each dish.

Step 8: Arrange grapefruit segments around each salad and pour remaining dressing over top. Lastly, sprinkle candied pecans and parsley over salad.

Tips:

If the salmon fillets are barbequed, place the fillets in a ziplock bag with a portion of the dressing. Seal the bag, massage the fillets, and place in the refrigerator overnight to marinade.

Try making the candied pecans at home! Preheat oven to 300° F. Toss the pecans with ¼ cup of maple syrup. Place the pecans on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake until the pecans are no longer sticky (check after 10 min, takes about 12 – 15 min).