Introduction: Sweet Potato Gnocchi

About: Hello, my name is Larah Opeña. I'm not a professional chef or a food expert, rather a home cook who works as an senior analyst in a major Canadian company in the best city in the world, Toronto. Yes - I…

I have to say... gnocchi - not easy to make. However, with a bit of patience and ability to accept things will get messy, it will be quite fine! Unfortunately for me, those qualities are not my strongest.It may seem like there are several steps to making fresh gnocchi, but I think the simplicity and minimal number of ingredients has made this less daunting for me.So if you're all okay with that - you'll definitely enjoy making this as much as I didI snapchat most of my cooking adventures these days, so that has made it extra fun to cook. Not that cooking isn't fun on its own already ! If you're interested, my snapchat handle is "larlarlarlars". I tend to swear and use millennial slang, so I apologize if none of it makes sense. Just ignore the rap/hip hop music and the fowl language and hopefully you'll enjoy the cooking adventure (mess) with me.Anyways, I shall babble less and get on with the recipe!

For the Gnocchi:

  • 2 large sweet potatoes
  • 1 yellow potato
  • 2 to 3 cups of all purpose flour (have extra on hand in case you need to adjust)
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 tbsp of freshly grated parmesan cheese

For the Brown Butter sauce:

  • 3 tbsp of unsalted butter (this isn't THAT healthy)
  • 3 sage leaves
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • Pinch of chili flakes (optional)
  • 1 tbsp freshly grated parmesan cheese
  • Grated parmesan and chives to garnish

Step 1: Let's Make Gnocchi:

Cook the potatoes in boiling water until very tender. It will almost feel like it's falling apart when you poke it with a fork. Let that cool completely.Mash the potatoes as finely as you can. It seems a potato ricer is best to use here but I didn't have one, so I just used a regular potato masher

Step 2: Assemble

Dust your counter top (or large cutting board) with about 1 cup of all purpose flour

Dump all of the mashed potato on the flour

Sprinkle in salt

Add the egg yolk & parmesan cheese

Mix it up well

Step 3: Form Your Gnocchi

  • Add the remaining flour little by little until you get a soft dough or until the dough is less wet (slightly wet is okay). It shouldn't stick to your hands completely... only a bit (hope that makes sense)
  • Roll your dough into a large ball, cover with a kitchen towel or tea towel and let it rest for about 15 mins
  • Cut a small chunk of the dough and roll it out into a snake-like shape, about 1inch in diameter. It doesn't have to be perfect
  • Cut the rolled out snake looking dough into little bite size pieces. This is your Gnocchi!
  • There are so many different ways to shape gnocchi. I just went with using my fork and making indents in the gnocchi. Which ever way you want to shape your gnocchi is up to you !

Step 4: Cook Your Gnocchi

  • Once you've rolled and cut up your gnocchi. Cook them in boiling salted water.
  • Cook in batches so they don't stick together. They will look done once they are floating
  • Take them out as soon as they are floating, drain, set it aside.

Step 5: Time for the Delicious Brown Butter Sage Sauce:

  • In medium to high heat, melt butter in your pan until it bubbles and start turning golden.
  • Add sage in and let that crisp up a bit
  • Add your gnocchi into the pan and brown each side by toss it
  • Once your gnocchi is seared and looking delicious, add your parmesan until it melts
  • Take off the heat and plate
  • Garnish with freshly grated parmesan and chives

Enjoy!

option: cook in red sauce or white sauce

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