Sweet Potato Gnocchi

I've decided that I will stick to making savory dishes for the immediate future. Right now, even the thought of sugar is making me want to have a repeat of yesterday. Nuh-uh. Not gonna happen. 

Therefore, we stick to savory. I'm glad we had this talk!

Last Thursday night was my night to cook. I would love to take on more nights, but let's not tell my mom that, okay? Okay! ;) 

She suggested (as she does best, with the cutest grin on her face) that I make sweet potato gnocchi (pronounced nyo-kee). We had been talking about it for 3 months, at least. Finally, Thursday was the day that we (I) would make them!

I'm having more and more fun taking pictures as my dishes form! Seriously, I don't know who enjoys it more: me or my sister (who helps take the pictures whenever she's here)? I'm also getting pretty good at taking left-handed pictures when I'm alone. Teeehee :) 

I honestly thought that making gnocchi would be hard. Then, I watched Giada de Laurentiis do it on the Food Network and I thought, "hey, that doesn't look complicated!" Then, my mom saw Martha Stewart do it and she thought, "hey, that's not hard!" (Are we seeing similarity here? Seriously, you can't tell that we're related.) 

Then, I looked at the recipe and thought, "oh gosh, this looks hard!" "Hard" as in time consuming, complicated, and just plain hard.

I needed a moment to gather my thoughts. 

Remembering how easy it looked on the Food Network, I threw all thoughts of self-doubt out the window, grabbed my parchment foil (because what else would you grab when making gnocchi??), and went to work!

Below, you will see the product of Thursday night supper. It was delicious! I don't know that I could replace it for spaghetti, but I definitely wouldn't mind having it once or twice a week!

Happy eating,

~HB~

Sweet Potato Gnocchi (Source: Martha Stewart)

• 1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes
• 1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• Rice flour, for dusting

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wrap sweet potatoes in parchment paper-lined aluminum foil. Bake until easily pierced in the center with a fork, about 1 hour. Let cool.

 

Place russet potatoes in a large pot; add enough water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until easily pierced in the center with a fork. Drain, and let potatoes cool to the touch. 

Wrap both sweet and white potatoes in a clean kitchen towel and rub to remove skins.

Pass potatoes through a food mill fitted with a medium-hole dish, or through a ricer, into a large mixing bowl. (You can also run them through a food processor, like I did.)

Spread all-purpose flour on a clean, dry work surface. Place potatoes on top of flour. Add egg, maple syrup, and salt. Using your hands, mix together ingredients on work surface until well combined to form a dough.

 Let rest for 2 minutes.

 Gnocchi dough is happy dough. :)

 

Lightly dust a clean, dry work surface with rice flour. Gently knead dough into a 10-by-8-inch rectangle.  

Cut the rectangle into 4 equal pieces. 

Roll each piece into a 1-inch-thick rope.

Cut each rope into 1/2 inch gnocchi.

If you want to, you can run the gnocchi over a gnocchi maker, or use the tines of a fork. It's to make it look pretty.

 See?

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the gnocchi in 3 batches and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 5 to 6 minutes. Drain the gnocchi using a slotted spoon onto a baking sheet. Tent with foil to keep warm and continue with the remaining gnocchi.

Once the water comes to a rolling bowl again...

As it cooks, the gnocchi rise to the top of the water. This makes it easy to go in with one of those spoon/sieve/food grabber things that are oh-so-handy! I'll take a picture of it the next time a recipe calls for it so that you'll know what I'm talking about.

 Once you're ready to plate, place all of the cooked gnocchi into your serving bowl.

Instead of using the sauce recipe that's below, I decided to use pasta sauce. (We had leftover sauce from another meal.) Simply ladle the amount that you desire on top of the gnocchi and carefully stir to combine.

Next, give it a good sprinkling of cheese...

And top with some freshly chopped parsley.

Store gnocchi on a rice flour-covered baking sheet until ready to use. Dust with rice flour. Gnocchi can also be frozen up to 2 weeks. To freeze, place them, dusted with rice flour, in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze. Once frozen, place them one on top of the other in an airtight container. To thaw for cooking, place gnocchi in a single layer on a baking sheet in the refrigerator for not more than 1 hour before cooking. Continue cooking according to recipe directions. 

Maple Cinnamon Sage Brown Butter (Source: Giada de Laurentiis/Food Network)

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
• 20 fresh sage leaves
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the Brown Butter sauce: While the gnocchi are cooking melt the butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted add the sage leaves. Continue to cook, swirling the butter occasionally, until the foam subsides and the milk solids begin to brown. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the cinnamon, maple syrup, salt, and pepper. Careful, the mixture will bubble up. Gently stir the mixture. When the bubbles subside, toss the cooked gnocchi in the brown butter. Transfer the gnocchi to a serving dish and serve immediately.