No Stupid Questions

Trofie* al pesto is most properly made with string beans and potatoes and is delicious if the pesto is good and fresh.

*a pasta shape

May I present a Scottish delicacy - the macaroni cheese pie.

As someone else said: Pierogi!

Gnocchi is pasta made with potatoes.

Not pasta but I've put potatoes and rosemary and swiss cheese on a pizza and it was amazing.

Little cubes of sweet potato in cold pasta salad is good too.

I think you are more right, but I would not, like, mix spaghetti into mashed potatoes.

More combined starches: Verheiratete (German, something like "married couple") are a kind of dumplings with potatoes together with diced fried bacon. One of my favourite local foods.

Pierogis are frequently potato stuffed and very ravioli-esque and delicious.

It certainly would count as two starches together but may be a stretch conflating the wrapper with ravioli with pasta with noodles.

I would like to introduce you to Guiso de Fideos:

A very traditional Argentinian food made with potatoes, noodles and other ingredients.

I would agree that just potatoes and noodles is way too much carb if that's the only food you're eating, but if you add other things or have it as a side dish it could work. Gnocchi are potato+flour and they're not more starchy than other pasta, it's all about the proportions with everything else.

Japanese/golden curry, massaman curry and others usually have potatoes in there. They are usually served with rice. But ive had them over noodles lots as well.

What about samosa? Potato stuffed into a bread and baked.

Gnocchi ARE potato pasta (at least the traditional version is). The four ingredients are potato, wheat flour, eggs, and salt.

yes

I make chicken soup (almost a stew) with both potatoes and (egg) noodles.

There's a traditional dish in Switzerland combining pasta, potatoes, apple sauce, cheese and some other stuff to a great meal reminding me of mac and cheese but elevated.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%84lplermagronen

It's great!

A very common Indian daily meal is rotis (flatbreads) with thinly sliced, heavily sliced fried potatoes. Other meals include lentils (carb heavy) + rotis + rice. I’ve even had rotis + wheat & meat porridge. Carbmaxxing is a proud Indian tradition.

The Swiss sometimes like to put potatoes in their pasta. Me, I agree with your mum.

https://momsdish.com/recipe/617/ukrainian-dumplings-aka-galushki

Ukrainian halushki. Its dumplings, frequently served with potatoes

Related: May I introduce you to the Japanese abomination known as “Yakisoba Pan?” It’s a fried noodle sandwich. Carbs with fried carbs on top. I honestly can’t believe America didn’t create this.

they can go together, sure. Your mom's point sounds more like a 'balance' kind of thing. Ideally you want different stuff in a meal instead like all protein, or all starches, etc.

It can still be tasty though

Tortilla de patatas (spanish potato omelet) sandwiches are delicious! I could eat those two starches every day.

It feels illegal but it’s probably fine.

You are both right. Arguing for completely unrelated things. Potatoes with pasta is indeed way too much starch for a healthy diet, if you are eating it on the regular and doubling your ingestion of carbs and starch. But it has nothing to do with taste, they taste fine together, as the many fine recipes and dishes everyone else have posted. They will make you bloaty though, the best is to regulate the portions back to a recommended protein/fibre/carb proportion, and you won't even notice.

Pasta e patate is an Italian pasta dish with potatoes and it is delicious!

https://thisitaliankitchen.com/pasta-e-patate/

As a kiddo, a cheeseburger, mac & cheese, and french fries was a regular summer dinner. That's a threefer.

There is nothing inherently wrong about that. Maybe what your mother is getting towards is that maybe you should cut the amount of noodles in half if you want to add potatoes, otherwise you will just end up with too much.

My grandma used to make "grenadier march", it was simple and cheap meal from her childhood, meaning (pre-)WW2.

Boiled potatoes and flat egg noodles roasted with onion, bits of speck (bacon) and sweet paprika. Nothing more. I wasn't really fan of the meal, but I understand where it came from and what it had to achieve (fill empty stomach for very cheap and mainly home grown ingredients).

potato's

Why the apostrophe?

Pierogis are literally pasta stuffed with potatoes. And they are fucking awesome.

Hell, you can make pasta out of potato.

But I still kinda agree with your mom about the starches thing when it comes to sides. I wouldn't serve corn and mashed potatoes. Only one is needed.

Don't forget rice a roni. Pasta and rice. I've heard some even consider this a treat.

I believe it depends a bit in which culture you live. In some countries potatos and pasta is seen as the Main dish, you should Not Mix.

My mother puts small Pasta in a soup along With potatos and it bombs pretty well. Yes, I believe the right combination will do Just fine :)

Bottom Line: Everything goes

Two starches can be magnificent - it's hard to beat a good chip butty.

Can it taste great? Yes. Is it too much starch in one meal? If your portions sizes are too big, also yes.

I think there's times where they work better than others and really depends on the dish. If you make a nice vegetable soup with fixed potatoes, and toss in some twirly pasta at the end, then they will work well as a medley and each bring something a little different to the taste and texture. Same with a vegetable curry with potatoes over rice.

If you had potatoes au gratin, and somehow incorporated Mac and cheese, ignoring differences in cook time between the potatoes and pasta, I think you'd feel they were a bit redundant. Not bad tasting, but they aren't really bringing something that different to the party.

When I think about balanced food I always look to the mix of fats, acids, salts, and sugars with starches providing structure for those flavors. So I would look to mix starches that being a different type of structure to make an interesting dish.

You can put a potato into anything if you're determined enough.

Pasta and potatoes are not the same thing, but you can cook and eat them together. Just cut the potatoes into chunks and add them to the water before you boil it, then add the pasta after it is boiling, then they should be finished cooking around the same time (potatoes need a little more time to cook than pasta).

Rice pilaf would like a word with your starch-deprived mother

No sauce is fixing what you're getting at Olive Garden.

Are we talking taste or nutrition here?

As for taste I say go for what you find good and tasty....

As for nutrition, maybe throw in there some veggies and some proteins and that will be fine....

Either way, enjoy your meal!