Homemade Gluten-Free Pasta Recipe from Melanie Persson MasterChef Australia Gluten-Free Contestant with Interview | Gluten-Free Foodee (2024)

Full disclaimer, I am a HUGE MasterChef Australia fan. To me, it is the crème de la crème of amateur cooking competitions. It is head and shoulders above all other versions. Every season inspires a new slew of self-taught home chefs to raise the bar even higher and tryout for the show with the hope of being the last one standing and raising the coveted tray.

The latest season 14 of MasterChef Australia is Fans & Faves. Along with 12 returning contestants (and a few winners), there are 12 new incredibly talented contestants giving them a run for their money. One of the new contestants is Melanie Persson, a 27 year old home cook (and Ph.D. candidate) who was diagnosed with celiac disease six years ago. She has been living gluten-free ever since.

Melanie watched MasterChef growing up and making it on the esteemed show was a dream to her. After her diagnosis, she had given up on her dream but not her love of cooking or MasterChef and being inspired by both. She stayed ready and it paid off for Melanie as this year she became the first celiac contestant on the show.

First Gluten-Free Celiac Contestant

As a fellow gluten-free foodee, we are so excited and connected to her goal of proving that gluten-free food does not mean compromised taste and texture on such a huge stage. Gluten-Free food can still pack the same punch as those made with gluten.

We were lucky enough to be able to ask Melanie a few questions about her self-taught gluten-free home chef journey and what she’s learned along the way. She oh so graciously obliged and took time out from her busy schedule to provide helpful responses. She even sent us an incredible homemade gluten-free pasta recipe. We tried it and it’s amazing.

HOMEMADE GLUTEN-FREE PASTA RECIPE (INTERVIEW TO FOLLOW):

Recipes Notes from Chef Melanie:

This pasta recipe is a good pasta starting point. From here, you can experiment with different noodle widths, folding techniques, or try laminating your pasta with herbs (like I did in this video).

If you find it’s still difficult to work with, try increasing the quantity of xanthan gum (as your flour blend may contain less than the one I used) or adding a drizzle of olive oil if your dough is stubbornly dry/cracking.

It’s also very IMPORTANT to use a flour blend that is designed for bread, and not just any old GF plain flour. Gluten-free bread flours have extra ingredients to provide stability and elasticity which is very important for pasta!

Let me know how you’ve gone with GF pasta – I’m always happy to help troubleshoot at the @theveryhungrycoeliac.

Ingredients

• 250 grams gluten-free bread flour
• ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum
• Pinch of salt
• 3 eggs + 1 yolk

Directions

1. Make a well out of the flour leaving space in the centre for the eggs.
2. Add the eggs to the centre of the flour.
3. Beat the eggs with a fork
4. Once the eggs are beaten, slowly start incorporating the flour.
5. Knead the dough with your hands until smooth.
6. Wrap dough and let rest for at least half an hour at room temperature.
7. Feed through pasta maker or roll out with rolling pin to desired thickness.

THE INTERVIEW (WITH GLUTEN-FREE COOKING TIPS):

GFF: I just want to start by thanking you profusely for taking the time for our little gluten-free blog. We are so honoured.

Our first question, is when you started cooking/baking after you were diagnosed, what was your biggest immediate challenge in transitioning to a gluten-free diet? How did you overcome it?

MP: I think the immediate challenge for a lot of us is the onslaught of confusing and conflicting information available, and I was no different! It’s a huge struggle to navigate the new rules governing everything you do – from what to pack for lunch, to where you can eat out with your friends, and even how to change your perspective on your health and wellbeing now that you’ve been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. Running a very close second is the sad discovery of the “secret gluten” that hides in a lot of pantry staples that you might not expect!

GFF: What do you see as your biggest ongoing gluten-free cooking/baking challenge?

MP: I think the biggest ongoing challenge is related to the fact that high-quality gluten-free food is quite hard to come by. I’ve taught myself a lot and I’m learning all the time. But one way that other cooks improve and be inspired is to see and taste what other people are making. I’d love to be able to go out to renowned bakeries/restaurants and explore their flavours and techniques, then apply that to my own food. But obviously, that isn’t readily available at the same scale as it is for “normal” food. So I often feel like I’m flying a bit blind, experimenting and figuring things out for myself!

GFF: What is your favourite gluten-free food to cook? What is your favourite gluten-free meal to eat?

MP: My favourite thing to cook is either stuff that people don’t expect to be gluten-free (like egg noodles or dumplings) or things I find very cathartic. I love a lazy day of baking, for instance, where I can just put an audiobook on and putter around the kitchen making tarts or cinnamon rolls! And my favourite gluten-free meal to eat is dumplings, hands down. I could eat dumplings for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

GFF: What is the most difficult gluten-free recipe(s) to get right?

MP: Puff pastry. I’ve tried a couple of times and have just given up quite quickly, partly because it’s just such a task and partly because Perth has two bakeries (that I know of) that make very good GF pastry that I can buy on the rare occasion I’m specifically craving a Danish or something similar.

GFF: What advice, tips and resources would you recommend for someone just starting out on their gluten-free cooking journey?

MP: I always tell people to get on Instagram! Not just for my account of course, but because there are so many fantastic GF cooks on there, sharing recipes and advice. And then you can be inspired by non-GF cooks as well. I just think it’s a fantastic resource – I’ve learnt most of what I know about GF cooking from social media.

My other piece of advice would be to experiment as much as you can! Start by trying to convert “normal” recipes and go from there. It’s the only way to learn about the different properties of various flours, and once you start to get a handle on that, everything becomes much more simple.

GFF: What ingredients do you think every gluten-free home cook/baker should have on hand?

MP: There are so many staples I think are essential. A lot of them are inspired by my obsession with Asian food so I think it’s important to track down GF (or naturally GF) versions of soy sauce, miso, mirin, oyster sauce, black rice vinegar, fermented soy beans, gochujang, dashi powder, chilli oil etc. These are all total flavour bombs that allow for quick and easy tasty meals. For baking, it is essential to have things like xanthan gum and psyllium husks on hand.

I make a lot of my own flours so I have literally dozens of varieties of starches and obscure flours, but that can be replaced by high-quality blends that are designed for specific purposes. A high-quality GF bread flour blend will be your best friend as these are usually also perfect for noodles, pasta, dumplings etc!

GFF: Melanie, thank you once again for your time and for sharing your gluten-free journey and the knowledge you’ve learned along the way. We are grateful. We will continue watching you on MasterChef Australia and cheering you on. Good luck!

Follow Melanie on Instagram @theveryhungrycoeliac and watch her homemade gluten-free pasta-making video here.