Pasta (Part 1) -- Brown Rice Pasta

Lately, I have been craving pasta, specifically warm spaghetti... yummo!    

I know there are many pasta choices out there, but I found this little gem while walking up and down the aisles at the local Nijiya Japanese market and decided to give it a try -- seriously, it is the "industry's first"... why wouldn't I want to try this.

Unlike the boxed pasta I typically buy, these noodles were vacuum sealed and not dehydrated.  Within the larger bag, there were 2 individually portioned packets of vacuum sealed noodles. :)   

 The instructions were very simple:
(1) Boil water and place noodles in water
(2)  Boil noodles for 1-2 minutes
(3)  Rinse noodles in cold water

To accompany the noodles I decided to prepare some eggplant marinara, I found a simple but delicious looking recipe on the MyRecipes website.

I absolutely adore eggplant.  I purchased some great ones at the local farmer's market... then promptly forgot about them in the fridge for a few weeks.
In short, I cut out whatever survived, bathed these bits in garlic and olive oil, and then roasted them in the oven for 30 minutes.

 

As the eggplant roasted, I prepared the rest of the sauce.
(1) First in the pan:  onions and garlic.
I cooked the onions until there were a little limp and translucent.

(2) Second in the pan:  crushed canned tomatoes, basil, sugar, oregano, and the roasted eggplant.
(Can't help but feel this may have all been tastier with fresh tomatoes -- oh well, next time).










The final product!

Yeah, so I'm really not much of a cook and this has been verified with this meal.
The sauce definitely lacks something (salt?).
Oh well, it was enough the curb my appetite.
I think tomorrow I'll just throw some cheese on it, because as everyone knows, cheese makes everything better.








A review of the noodles.
-Price:  $5.00-6.00?  I threw away the receipt, so I can't remember the exact price.  As with all gluten-free products, it was a little on the expensive side (especially for 2 servings), but nothing too high.
-Convenience:  With the individually wrapped packages, these noodles are ideal for single meals.  The noodles cooked ridiculously fast.     
-Taste:  The taste was surprisingly good, just like "real" noodles.
-Texture:  Okay, my biggest beef with these noodles was the texture.  Perhaps I overcooked the noodles (boiled them for closer to 2 minutes, than 1), but these noodles were very soft and fell apart easily when trying to pick them up... not very al dente at all.
-Overall:  ^.^  ^.^  ^.^ (3 out of 5 happy Asian smiles) 

Nijiya Market
2130 Sawtelle Blvd # 105
Los Angeles, CA 90025