Pasta, the staff of life. They say it's bread, but I don't think so. Does bread come in over 350 shapes, colors and sizes? Does bread have never-ending sauce options? Can you eat bread alone every single night? No, but you can eat pasta for dinner 7 days a week, with pleasure. "But how can you still eat pasta when you're on an allergen-free diet?", one might ask. If you're one of the 12 million Americans with Food Allergies, you're probably avoiding one or more of the following foods; wheat/gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, or shellfish. Given that pasta dishes are generally comprised of wheat/gluten, dairy, and eggs, and sometimes tree nuts, or fish and shellfish, eating pasta may seem like an impossibility. Not so! Go back to the basics, with simple, fresh, organic produce and allergen-free pasta will be the centerpiece of your summer table.

The first step to creating allergen-free pasta recipes is to use ingredients that don't need cheese to finish. We have become so used to adding parmesan to our pasta, almost by rote. But many sauces don't require any cheese, and in fact are better without it. For inspiration, look to the Italians who know to rely on basics for flavor -- ingredients like onions, garlic, fresh tomatoes, rich chicken or vegetable stock, white wine, fresh herbs, olives, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, red pepper flakes, and sometimes sausage, prosciutto, or bacon (nitrite free). Just 4 or 5 of these flavorful ingredients combined will give you a great sauce. And during these summer months, look to your local produce for fresh veggies, like zuchinni, yellow squash, fresh peas, and leeks, to add color and texture to your dish.

But what about the pasta itself? The next step to making an allergen-free pasta recipe is finding good wheat-free, gluten-free pasta. So as an experiment, I set about testing all the wheat-free, gluten-free pastas I could get my hands on, and have come up with some helpful tips to steer you towards the better products on the market. Luckily, the industry has come a long way in meeting public demand for gluten-free pasta. Only a couple of years ago, there were very few options, and most gluten-free pastas would disintegrate into a mushy gloopy mess. There was no such thing as Al Dente gluten-free pasta, and twirling a long strand of spaghetti around your fork was a thing of the past. Not true anymore. And while you still have to avoid a few brands that have not moved beyond a product that cooks into some sort of gruel, the following are some GREAT brands of pasta.

I started with rice pastas. As far as I'm concerned, Tinkyada is the gold standard of rice spaghetti. It has a firm texture, and lovely taste. It is made with whole grains (brown rice, and rice bran), in a dedicated factory where all they produce are rice pastas, so there's no risk of cross contamination with other grains or cereals. Tinkyada is available at most health food stores and many regular grocery stores. Pastariso also has excellent texture but I detected a faintly bitter aftertaste. Pastariso makes potato pastas as well, and are produced in a dedicated gluten-free facility. Lundberg is the grandaddy of rice pastas. This California family farm has been making brown rice pasta for years. They have great flavor and make the best short pastas (spirals, penne). Mrs. Leepers is an Italian brand of rice pasta, that I was less enthusiastic about. To avoid the noodles turning to mush, you must cook them for less time than instructed. However, they do make multi-colored vegetable spirals, which is appealing to kids. Trader Joe's brown rice pasta was weird, to say the least. At first, though I cooked it to the maximum suggested time, it seemed completely underdone. I drained it anyway, because they warn you not to overcook it, and after a few minutes, the texture improved to being fine, though slightly chewy. But when i tried eating the leftovers the next day, the pasta was hard as a rock, and completely inedible. Seriously, it wouldn't chew.

After my rice pasta adventures, I moved on to other gluten-free pastas, containing corn, or quinoa. My # 1 favorite gluten-free pasta is Quinoa Corporation's "Ancient Harvest Quinoa Linguine" which is a blend of corn flour and quinoa flour. Quinoa is an ancient grain with complete protein, and thus, super-nutritious. It has the best texture, and never gets the slightly slimy coating that can accompany rice pasta, and has a lovely pale yellow hue, like egg noodles. DeBoles corn pasta has good flavor but don't expect the noodles to hold their shape. The spaghetti/linguine turns out more like shredded egg noodles. And steer clear of their rice spaghetti! The one great plus to DeBoles is that it's owned by Hain Celestial, and thus, the most accessable gluten-free pasta at supermarkets and grocery stores.

When I turned my sights towards sauce, I chose to create the following recipe around what is in season and readily available from local produce. This time of year, that's tomatoes and basil. You can find fresh tomatoes and basil in abundance, at your local farmers market, grocer, or perhaps in your very own garden! I came up with an allergen-free pesto sauce to replace the traditional, which usually contains tree nuts (pine nuts or walnuts), and cheese. I substituted pumpkin seeds for the tree nuts, and gluten-free rice bread crumbs for the cheese with awesome results. I added roast cherry tomatoes, packed full of vitamin c, and chicken to increase the protein content, since most gluten-free pasta has about half the protein of duram wheat pasta. This recipe is free of the top 8 allergens that are responsible for 90% of food allergies; it is wheat/gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, egg-free, peanut-free, tree nut-free, fish-free, and shellfish-free (phew that's a mouthful!), and yet, is lacking for nothing!