Quinoa Pasta with Veal Sauce

The first time I perused the gluten-free pasta options at a grocery store, I was fairly depressed by what I saw. One box advertised "now with improved texture!!" as if to say "we know our product is crappy, but we made it marginally better!". My favorite gluten-free pasta is Ancient Grains quinoa pasta. It comes in a perky green box and I've been able to readily find it at chain grocery stores as well as, obviously, Whole Foods.

Quinoa pasta is not as bitter as plain quinoa but it is an acquired taste. And I've found that many pasta sauces straight from the jar do not mesh well with the flavor of the pasta. Something about the acidic tomatoes mixed with the quinoa just doesn't do it for my palate. When we were recently at my aunt's home in California, she served a lovely tomato sauce over quinoa pasta. I decided to hunt around for a similar recipe and decided to adapt Marcella Hazan's Simple Veal Pasta Sauce. It fits the bill nicely: flavorful, meshes well with quinoa pasta, light on tomatoes (which my husband doesn't like), and easy to make. I made a few changes to the recipe, so I've posted it below the way that I prepared it.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. quinoa pasta
• one 14.5 oz can of cut tomatoes, drained, or the equivalent amount of cut fresh tomatoes
• 3 T. butter (do not substitute if you can help it! the butter is delicious)
• 1 T. olive oil
• 1/4 c. chopped onion
• garlic
• 1/2 lb. ground veal
• sea salt & black pepper
• 1 T. dried rosemary
• 1 T. dried sage
• red wine
• 1/4 - 1/2 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan, add 2 T. butter and the olive oil at medium high. Add garlic (to taste) and the onion and cook gently until golden. 
2. Add the ground veal and brown it, using a spoon or spatula to break apart the chunks into smaller pieces.
3. Add the tomatoes, salt & pepper to taste, rosemary & sage (again, adjust the amounts to taste), and a dash of red wine. Turn the ingredients several times in the pan before turning the heat down to simmer. Cook for 15-20 minutes. Stir the contents periodically and add red wine to keep the meat from drying out. I probably added around 1/3 c. red wine in total. You can use cooking wine if you wish, but I simply added a red merlot that was already on hand. 
4. Once the sauce begins to simmer, start cooking your pasta in a separate pot. Drain and immediately mix with the sauce, while also adding the remaining tablespoon of butter and the grated cheese. Serve immediately. 

Sorry, no pictures... this was gobbled up! It makes 4 large servings.