Gluten & Wheat-free Baked Seafood Pasta with Mentaiko sauce and Spinach

Doesn't that look gorgeous?  Best of all, it's gluten and wheat-free, which is good for those with endometriosis or those who are gluten/wheat intolerant.  I found an organic food shop which also carries rice penne so I bought that and used this recipe to cover up that very granular taste of the pasta. 

So, what do you need for this very simple dish?  Do note that my recipe only serves 1 pax.

• half a cup of penne (you can use macaroni or shell pasta too)
• 1 packet of spicy mentaiko sauce
• 1 cup of baby spinach leaves
• 2-4 prawns (you can substitute with any other seafood or chicken and sausage) chopped into bite sized pieces
• shredded Parmesan, Emmanthel and Gruyere cheeses (or only mozzarella and parmesan)

This dish is so simple, it's really quite embarrassing.  All you need to do is boil the pasta as per the instructions on the packet and when it's almost done, pour out the water and then toss the spinach, prawns and mentaiko sauce in the pot.  Mix it thoroughly so that the sauce coats everything.  If you then realise that there isn't enough sauce, add a bit of milk and salt.  Transfer the pasta mixture into an oven-proof casserole.  Sprinkle the cheeses on top, with the Parmesan being the last.  Bake in an oven set to 180 deg C for about 5-10 minutes and you're done!

As I was only baking it for myself, I used a toaster oven.  Just pop it in for 7 minutes and I was ready to tuck into my dish of yumminess!  The spicy mentaiko sauce balances out the cheese while the spinach just helps to cut back on the general creaminess.  If you want to be uber decadent, you can drizzle a bit of truffle oil once it's done.  However, there is a lot of oil from the cheese so I didn't do that.  This will also go very well with any table white wine but since it's my lunch, I skipped that as well.