Tolerant Foods has come out with a line of organic, single-ingredient (red lentil or black bean) pastas. The form factors currently available are penne (tubes with longitudinal ridges), rotini (corkscrews), and fettuccine. The pastas are high in fiber, gluten-free, and high in protein. In addition to a 12oz thin paperboard box with a small clear plastic film window, their products are available in a 10lb food service package (bag?).
Red Lentil Penne
Late June, 2014: The uncooked penne is the orange color of red lentils but the cooking liquid leached the pasta to a pleasant dun color. In my stoup (a stew – soup cross) the pasta had no noticeable flavor – which is fine. The bigger pieces of pasta were slightly chewy (as expected for a pasta); few of the penne tubes survived the relatively long simmering of the stoup – though a wheat penne wouldn’t have fared much better. A small-sized pasta such as orzo, stelle, or stelline works better in slow-cooked soups and stews; hopefully Tolerant Foods will produce one of those shapes. I look forward to pairing the penne with a broccoli or lacinato marinara sauce.
