Passover is coming! (Gluten-Free Recipes Included)

Jeremy and I have really been anticipating Passover this year! Mostly because this is our first year involved with our congregation "The Gathering Place". This will be our 3^rd Passover meal as a couple. As we prepare for this biblical holy day, we try to “make things right” in our life. For Jeremy, he looks forward to this meal with a body of believers who acknowledge that this is the meal Yeshua ate with his disciples just before he was crucified. This is important to him because he grew up in a church that adamantly opposed this idea. Every year, the pastor would stand up and say ‘the meal we eat is NOT Passover’.

Passover is also a day to prepare for the Feast of Unleavened Bread; a time that we will search each nook and cranny of our home for any crumb of bread, or leaven, and throw it out. This is an edifying time, as the leaven represents sin, and how sin can hide so deeply in our lives, that we forget it is there. Just like yeast, a sin will expand into a bigger and bigger sin until you rid of it completely! We search and search our pantry, checking each label carefully for a leavening agent so that we can clean it out, just as we are to clean out the sin from our lives.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread:

The 7 day long Feast of Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:6, Exodus 12:15-17) is a time in which no leaven can be eaten, as it symbolizes sin. We do this in an effort to separate ourselves from sin and become a holy, set-apart people. We like to call this feast our internal spring cleaning!

The first and last day of this feast is a high sabbath (an extra sabbath besides the weekly sabbath). No work can be done on these days with the exception of preparing food (Exodus 12:16). We bake and eat matzah bread, which in many ways resembles Jesus' sinless body.

This feast was declared a memorial to be kept forever. “And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread… therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance forever” Exodus 12:17.

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We also want to share with you, some gluten-free Passover recipes we have found, that we plan to make this year! We are anxious to try these out, as this is our first year celebrating with these dietary restrictions.

Gluten-Free Matzah Bread:

Ingredients:
1/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup almond meal
1 Tbsp. flaxseed meal
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. coconut oil
3 Tbsp. warm water
1/4 tsp. salt (or to taste)

Preheat oven to 450 F. In a medium bowl, combine potato starch, almond meal, flaxseed meal, and salt. Next, mix coconut oil into the dry ingredients using your hands. Add water in small amounts until the dough makes a ball and isn't too sticky. Knead dough well enough to be sure there are no chunks of coconut oil. If the dough is sticky, add a bit more potato starch. Take golf ball sized pieces of dough and flatten until thin on a foil-covered baking sheet. Use a fork to poke holes into the dough. Bake for about 10 minutes, but watch closely to make sure they don't get overdone. Be careful not to overbake! Remove from oven as soon as the edges become slightly brown - The top should still be white. Makes 4 servings.

Gluten-Free Dumplings (Matzoballs):

Ingredients:
2 medium russet potatoes, peeled
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup (plus 1 Tbsp.) potato starch
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground white pepper
1 Tbsp. fresh dill, minced

Cut potatoes into large chunks and boil in water until soft. Drain and allow to cool. Once cool, mash with oil, eggs, salt, pepper and dill. Stir in potato starch until thoroughly combined, and refrigerate the mixture for 1 hour. Bring soup or a pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Use your hands to gently form rough ball shapes from one tablespoon of batter at a time, and submerge dumplings in the soup or water. If you prefer, you may use a soup spoon or ice cream scoop to move free-form spoonfuls of batter into the pot. Boil for approximately 5-6 minutes - The dumplings will float up to the surface quickly but will need several additional minutes to cook all the way through. Serve in soup, or as a side dish with butter or margarine.

Gluten-Free Potato Pancakes:

Ingredients: 
2 medium russet potatoes, peeled
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 - 1/3 cup potato starch
salt (to taste)
2 Tbsp. coconut oil for frying

Cut potatoes into large chunks and boil in water until soft. Drain and allow to cool. Once cool, mash with 2 Tbsp. of oil, both eggs, and salt. Stir in potato starch until thoroughly combined, and refrigerate the mixture for 1 hour. Heat oil in a heavy non-stick pan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Place 1/4 cup of batter at a time into the hot oil, using the back of a spatula to press flat until each pancake is no more than 1/4 to 1/3" thick. Cook until golden-brown on each side (2-3 minutes per side), flipping once. Place on a plate lined with paper towel to absorb excess oil. Serve while hot.

Gluten-Free Potato Latkes:

Ingredients:

4 pounds Russet potatoes

1 large onion, peeled

2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon ground white pepper

1/3 c. white rice flour

1/3 c. brown rice flour

1/4 c. potato starch

1/8 c. tapioca starch

3 eggs, beaten

Olive oil for frying

Preheat oven to 200 degrees or "warm" setting. Peel potatoes and submerge in cold water. Grate the onion into a large bowl. Grate the potatoes and squeeze handfuls of grated potatoes at a time over kitchen sink to remove all liquid. Add the dry potatoes to the onions and mix as you go. This step should be done as quickly as possible to prevent oxidation of the potatoes.

Heat 1/4 inch of olive oil in a large, heavy skillet, over medium-high heat. Add remaining ingredients to the batter, and stir until fully combined. Place a small handful of batter (approximately 1/4 cup) in the hot oil at a time, gently pressing each latke with the back of the spatula so that it is no more than 1/3" thick. Do not press too hard, as the latkes will be more crispy if the batter is not densely packed (leave space in between the pieces of potato). Fry until completely golden-brown on the bottom and crispy around the outside corners. Flip and brown on the second side. Transfer latkes to a plate lined with paper towels. Allow paper to absorb excess oil. Makes 6-8 servings.