Pasta for Passover

March 31, 2009 7:31 PM

Passover is coming, hurray. Is there a way to make noodles, gnocchi or other pasta without using wheat, rice or beans? I've seen commercial potato noodles for sale but I'd rather make my own.
posted by Joe in Australia to Food & Drink (8 answers total)

I thought gnocchi was by definition potato flour.
posted by restless_nomad at 8:35 PM on March 31, 2009

According to Wikipedia Gnocchi can be made with other substances since the name refers to the shape not the component material.
posted by mmascolino at 8:44 PM on March 31, 2009

Gnocchi is traditionally a mixture of potato (mashed potato, not potato flour) and wheat flour. Leave out the flour and you'll end up with a very watery potato soup, or just dirty water. The best gnocchi has only a little flour though (otherwise it ends up heavy and stodgy). So it might be worth trying potatoes mixed with a very small quantity of potato flour, or perhaps some egg yolk as a binding agent.

I don't know what the rules for kosher food are, so apologies in advance if I've suggested anything inappropriate there.
posted by GeckoDundee at 9:25 PM on March 31, 2009

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/28017977
and
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/29018843/
I wanted to try these so bad, it was my first time having Gnocchi, it wasnt for me. But hopefully these recipes help!
posted by kgreerRN at 9:27 PM on March 31, 2009

Quinoa is apparently KFP (kosher for Passover); there must be pasta recipes on the intertubes that make use of it.
posted by greatgefilte at 9:38 PM on March 31, 2009

Here's a pretty good gnocchi recipe, courtesy of Smitten Kitchen, which asks that you grate the potato and not use a ricer. I haven't tried it, but their (her) other recipes have always turned out great. Perhaps you should use potato starch or passover cake flour to replace the regular flour? Reportedly very little flour is needed, only to help bind the potato together, so I don't think the specific kind of flour would matter too much.
posted by suedehead at 10:17 PM on March 31, 2009

Best answer: It looks like lots of people out there are thinking along the same lines. Here is one recipe for potato gnocchi that doesn't use wheat or corn.

/mmm, gnocchi
posted by altolinguistic at 1:32 AM on April 1, 2009

There are some really good recipes out there for KFP noodles and they have potato starch in them. Here is just one from an old recipe - enjoy. Happy Passover.
posted by watercarrier at 2:17 AM on April 1, 2009