Spelt Penne With Mushrooms And Rosemary

Spelt is the English word for Farro in Italian and Zeas in Greek. It is one of the oldest staples in Europe ever since the Bronze Age. Now, because many people suffer from diabetes and are susceptible to gluten in plain wheat flour, flours such as Spelt, Buckwheat, Rye and many other are coming into "fashion" and are being used to make bread, pasta and other products where wheat is being used. These flours have a low glycemic index (an article really worthwhile reading) without causing sudden increases of the blood sugar in the body. But, most breads made with such flours are compact even though baking soda, baking powder and natural fresh or dry yeasts are used. The main reason wheat flour is used is the existence of gluten which causes the bread dough to rise.  Take for example the Spelt bread I made a couple of posts ago, not only when sliced, it is compact, and tastes delicious, it can be sliced very very thin to accommodate a nice slice of smoked salmon ......

 Today we shall be making Penne made from Spelt flour, with garlicky rosemary and Pleurotus mushrooms.  

Ingredients:
-  500 gr penne made from spelt flour. (Zeas in Greek, Farro in Italian).
-  250 gr pleurotus mushrooms washed and roughly cut.


-  4 cloves of garlic very finely chopped.
-  4-5 sprigs of fresh rosemary leaves washed.


-  Olive oil as needed.
-  No salt (for people with high blood pressure).
Method:
-  Make sauce first by heating a pan with oil, saute the garlic then add the rosemary till you get that beautiful blend of aromas.


-  Add the roughly cut mushrooms, mix and let cook on medium to high fire constantly mixing for 5-6 minutes till the pasta is ready.
-  Boil the penne about 7 -8 minutes or to your taste.(This type of pasta needs less time than the normal wheat pasta).


-  Strain the pasta and mix the two together and serve.


The diabetics will see that there will be no change in their blood sugar level when they check it after a couple of hours.
Enjoy with health,
Stelio   

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