Dairy and tomato free - what can I have with pasta???

[JamieJay]

Realise this should probably go in food or recipes but suspect there is a bit more expertise here

Exclusively breastfeeding DD (4 weeks old) and after a few weeks of suspected reactions I've been advised (by HV/GP) to avoid dairy and tomato as they are thought to be the most likely culprits.

Have managed to find alternatives to the major of the dairy I usually eat but am totally lost as to what I can have with pasta which I am having major cravings for!!

Anyone got any suggestions for me before I start crying.......

Thanks

Pesto?

Try this site for vegan pasta recipes. They'll all be dairy-free, so you just need to skip the ones with tomatoes in. It includes a pesto recipe that doesn't have cheese in.

HTH!

Seafood linguine?.
Would you like the recipe? It's very quick and easy, and nice cold as a pasta salad.

Thanks all, hadn't thought of pesto just panicked that I'd have to give up pasta

Will check out that website.....

you can make loads of sauces using olive oil - pesto as suggested and anything else you can add herbs and other veg to.

and you can get vegan cheese, which will stir in nicely.

yep def pesto, it's sooooo easy to make

also, if you can get some vegan cream cheese then stir that through with some fried courgettes or mushrooms

You could also roast some veg then blitz them with a splash of water or stock to make a pasta sauce.

Sorry - pesto has parmesan in it...

I have been making a pasta for DD (dairy allergic and doesn't like tomatoes) with a selection of mushrooms, lightly fried in some olive oil and a good amount of garlic, add some baby spinach and then mix thoroughly through the pasta. It's delicious.

You could even add some pancetta or torn small pieces of parma ham for extra flavour/variety.

Otherwise a tray of veg slow roasted in the oven with some onion, herbs and garlic then mixed through some pasta would be delicious. Try aubergine, courgette and peppers. Add some olives or good quality anchovies perhaps for extra yumminess.

Pesto doesn't have to have Parmesan. Pinenuts, oil and basil.

Is it still yummy without parmesan? Might make that for DD then.

it's not as yummy without the parmesan - but you could use Goat's cheese, (a lot of people who can't eat cow's milk can eat goat's milk- you migth want to find out first!) and you can get vegan cheese.

Roasted butternut squash, with a bit of basil and olive oil?

The following flavours are all great and don't particularly need tomato as a base:

Anchovies, olives, pepperoni, chilli, capers, basil, porcini mushrooms, garlic

You can include just about any other veg you fancy. Or you can just serve the pasta very simply (eg tossed in chilli oil, fresh basil and olives) and have a (tomato-free) salad with it.

lots and lots of roasted red peppers, whizzed up to use in place of tinned tomatoes or passata.

I'd second the pesto - basil, pine nuts, olive oil and garlic whizzed in the blender - yum. Try adding some vegan cheese in (from health food shops)

I had some lovely pasta once in an Italian restaurant just tossed in good quality olive oil with garlic, chilli and freshly ground black pepper.

Make up a white sauce with soya milk and add some vegan cheese (or goats cheese as previously suggested) and bacon.

For the kids I make a 'hidden veg' pasta sauce by whizzing up whatever veg I want to get into them and using that as a sauce (I add enough tomato puree to make it red so they'll eat it, but assuming you don't care about the colour, you can leave that out)

A dairy-free cream substitute, sauteed onions, cooked broccoli, tuna and black pepper makes a nice pasta sauce too.

Good luck experimenting, hope it helps...

i used to eat vegan cheese when i was at uni, because it was cheaper than normal cheese at the shop i frequented.
it never used to melt though (you can get melting stuff now)

Just thought of another one we do - spaghetti with prawns and rocket. It's so quick and really tasty.

Those big frozen king prawns are fine for this, but even better if you can get lovely fresh ones, then it feels like a real treat. But it needs to be the biggies, not those teeny tiny little scraps.

Cook spaghetti as normal, meanwhile lightly fry some garlic and red chilli in olive oil. Add prawns and stir fry for a minute or two, add a glass of white wine, bring to the boil briefly then simmer off until prawns are cooked and alcohol reduced to a lovely sauce. Mix through drained spaghetti, add handfuls of rocket, toss with a little extra olive oil, fresh lemon juice and salt and pepper. Serve with a glass of white wine. Yum.

vongole? clams, tiny bit of chilli, garlic, olive oil. delish (I've have just come back from the amalfi coast where I managed to have vongole 4 times in 5 days so might be a bit obsessed...)

If I were you, I'd move pasta to the 'special food' category and only have it as a treat. Then go mad with the seafood.

I think you can make a pretty good ragu without any tomatoes - look for an 'authentic' recipe online. More meat and a base of celery onion and carrot (what do you call that again?).

Oh, you need some parsley for the vongole as well to finish it off.

As ever, I find st nigel's recipe is the best

Lemon needs to become your friend. The most boring pasta dishes can be perked up with a grating of lemon zest and/or a squeeze of lemon juice.

DH also doesn't do diary and I find tomato pasta's a bit heavy so most of our pasta dishes these days are diary and tomatoe free. Admittedly, we don't do pasta all that often (it tends to mostly be fried options)

Thinly slice courgettes and fry them with a generous amount of good olive oil, some chilli, some garlic and some lemon zest. [this is one of my favourites, and uses up gluts of courgettes at the same time)

Fry mushrooms with garlic and olive oil and put on pasta.

Fry pancetta (or bacon) until starting to crisp. Add some garlic and lemon zest then pour in just enough wine to get the pan coated and the flavour going. Let most of it bubble away either with some spinach in the pan, or throw some spinach into the pasta just before you drain it.

Also, slow roasting sliced pepers in olive oil is delicious and can taste wonderfully rich. We normally add a bit of goats cheese for that but I'm not sure how strict you need to be on the diary- free thing?

Also, does risotto work for you instead of pasta? I know you normally use cheese in risotto but a strongly flavoured butternut or pancetta and lemon risotto would still be delicious I think?

Thinly sliced onion, yellow and red pepper.

Saute slowly in a very generous slug of olive oil, and season with salt/black pepper.

Cook until meltingly soft, and then stir into hot penne or rigatoni, and stir in a generous handful of chopped, fresh coriander.

Also lovely with garlic and chilli added to it, but garlic and chilli caused major colic problems for DS1 so I'd probably leave those out if I were you!!!

Aubergine, red pepper and mushrooms, roasted in the oven in olive oil then food process to chunky sauce. If OK with onions, add red onion as well. This is also really nice warm on toasted baguette or Italian flatbread