Catelli Healthy Harvest Ancient Grains Pasta and Giveaway

Some of you may not know this but I used to be married to an Italian.  During that time I made a lot of pasta, and I was lucky because it is an easy meal to make.  Even though it is a simple thing to do I think I got my greatest satisfaction when we had his Dad over for dinner and he told me my meal was bellissima.

So naturally when I was invited to try Catelli^® Healthy Harvest^® Ancient Grains pasta I wanted to give it a taste.  This new line of pasta was recently introduced to Western Canada and to help get the word out they enlisted Chef Lynn Crawford. She has been on the Food Network lately as a judge for Chopped Canada but I am particularly fond of her Pitchin’ In series, where she connects with local producers and makes them a meal from their food.  And yes, next time I seriously spend some time in Toronto I would like to check out her restaurant, Ruby Watchco.

But I get side tracked.  I was not able to be at the event in Calgary and cook with Chef Lynn however, through the magic of technology, I was able to see the presentation on our computer at home. What I got to see was an introduction of the five grains that make up the pasta, some known and some not so well-known.  There is a mix of Quinoa, Amaranth, Teff, Sorghum and Millet which pack the noodles full of fibre and nutrients.

And the presentation of course included cooking the pasta, which led to my favourite part of the broadcast, my friend Jo-Anna over at A Pretty Life in the Suburbs doing her best Chopped Canada impression.  She helped make the Chilled Noodle Salad with Ginger Wasabi dressing and knocked it out of the park!  It looked amazing so of course I had to try making it for myself.  The people at Catelli were able to make that happen by sending me the recipe but more importantly, sending me some of the product to test.

I’m going to post the recipe below but here are some things I learned while cooking this in my kitchen.  First things first, I would have failed the Chopped Canada test.  I took way too long shelling the edamame and next time I would buy the pre-shelled variety you can get in the frozen food aisle, that is if fresh is not available.  The other thing is that I was not able to find Black Sesame Seeds when I was at the grocery store and I didn’t have time to go elsewhere.  That was not a problem though because I knew I had regular Sesame Seeds at home so I just toasted those up and used them instead.

Last the pasta was super easy to work with and the salad tasted bright and fresh.  My kid didn’t like it but my husband said he definitely wants this again, in the summer time for supper.  I will be glad to make it again for him.

Chilled Noodle Salad with Ginger Wasabi Dressing 

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 8 min

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

1 pkg (340 g)              Catelli^® Healthy Harvest^® Ancient Grains Spaghettini

2 cups (500 ml)           snow peas, thinly sliced diagonally

1 cup (250 ml)             shelled edamame

1                                  small English cucumber

2 cups (500 ml)            napa cabbage, finely shredded

1 cup (250 ml)             red pepper, cut into matchsticks

3                                  green onions, thinly sliced

1                                  ripe avocado, sliced

1/4 cup (60 ml)            cilantro leaves

2 tbsp (30 ml)              black sesame seeds

Ginger-Wasabi Dressing:

1/4 cup (60 ml)            seasoned rice vinegar

3 tbsp (45 ml)              canola oil

2 tbsp (30 ml)              soy sauce

2 tbsp (30 ml)              lemon juice

1 tsp (5 ml)                  lemon zest

2 tsp (10 ml)                brown sugar

2 tsp (10 ml)                sesame oil

1 tsp (5 ml)                  grated fresh ginger

wasabi to taste

Instructions:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain well. Rinse under cold water until well chilled; transfer to large bowl and set aside.
2. In a pot of boiling water, cook snow peas and edamame until tender-crisp. Drain and rinse under cold water until well chilled; set aside.
3. Meanwhile, halve the cucumber lengthwise and use the end of a spoon to scoop and discard seeds; cut cucumber into julienne strips.
4. Ginger-Wasabi Dressing: Whisk together rice vinegar, canola oil, soy sauce, lemon juice and zest, brown sugar, sesame oil and ginger. Season with wasabi to taste.
5. Add cucumber, snow peas, edamame, napa cabbage, red pepper, green onions and avocado to noodles; toss with enough dressing to coat.
6. Garnish with cilantro leaves and black sesame seeds.

Tip: If you have time, you can chill the noodle dish by refrigerating for 1 to 4 hours.

Per serving: 590 calories, 19 g fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 710 mg sodium,

84 g carbohydrates, 145 g fibre, 13 g sugar, 21 g protein

You made it to the end!  So how about the giveaway now?  The prize is a year supply of Catelli^® Healthy Harvest^® Ancient Grains pasta.  The only stipulation is that you must be a resident of Canada.  To enter click the Rafflecopter link below and it will guide you.  I will contact the winner on Monday, April 6.  Good luck everyone.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Because I didn’t think you wanted to look at pictures of my computer screen, I borrowed some pictures from the photographer that was at the event.   Also, even though I was sent free pasta all opinions are my own.  The photo of the salad above the recipe is mine and the one below the recipe is a supplied photo.