Southwestern Spaghetti!

Our first recipe from Donna Klein’s The Gluten-Free Vegetarian Kitchen is a great success! We stuck very closely to the recipe as printed… because it already looked awesome and fit our needs.

Southwestern-Style Corn Spaghetti with Chili Beans

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 (16-oz) can gluten-free chili beans, sauce included
1 (14.5-oz) can stewed tomatoes, juice included
1/2 cup salsa
1/4 cup canned chopped green chilis (I used a full 4.5 oz can, drained)
1 tbsp gf chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
8 ounces corn spaghetti
optional: gf shredded cheddar cheese and/or gf sour cream

1. Prepare a pot of water and set to boil. When ready, cook pasta according to package directions.
2. While that’s boiling, heat oil in another pan over medium heat. Add onions and saute until soft. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer over med-high heat. Cover, reduce heat and simmer gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. When pasta is cooked, drain and add to the bean mixture. Stir thoroughly and enjoy immediately with toppings of your choice!

What intrigued me about this dish was how well the flavors would blend. One of the transitions to make in gluten-free cooking is around the issue of pasta. Traditional pasta sauces were built to be served with traditional pasta, so using straight marinara on rice or corn pasta often doesn’t blend flavors as well as I would like. Building the Mexican-influenced sauce here to go with the mildly corn-flavored spaghetti made for a delightful dish.

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