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Sunday, April 11, 2010

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

I began seeing Sweet Potato Gnocchi around the blogosphere the last few months and have been dying to make it. My friend Paige beat me to it and warned me that it was a rather time consuming endeavor. With this in mind, I cooked my sweet potatoes a day ahead of time and then spent a leisurely Friday afternoon preparing the gnocchi. The great thing was that I made a TON and we have at least one, maybe two, meals worth in our freezer now. I admit, it is certainly a process to make these...but after eating them, I've decided it was worth it. Ryan and I realized when we sat down to eat that neither of us had ever actually tried gnocchi, so we had no idea what it was supposed to be like in terms of taste and texture. Even so, we both converted to gnocchi lovers after a few bites. If you have issues with weird textures in food, these might freak you out...but I personally loved the stiff exterior and the chewy insides.

While we sauteed these this time in some garlic and butter, I'm excited to experiment with the remaining gnocchi in the freezer and instead make an accompanying sauce. Stay tuned for that in the next few weeks!

Sweet Potato Gnocchi
recipe from Iowa Girl Eats (Kristin has great step by step photos..my hands were too messy to attempt this!)

Ingredients:
-1 lb sweet potatoes (I used 3 large potatoes, definitely more than a pound total)
-1 3/4 cups flour, may need more or less (I used at least 2-2 1/2 cups)
-1 medium egg
-1/4 tsp cinnamon
-salt & pepper

Directions:
1. Cook potatoes until tender (I baked at 400F until tender) and mash until smooth. (This is the step I did a day ahead of time. I just refrigerated my potatoes in a sealed container until ready to use).
2. Add a whisked egg to the potatoes and mix in cinnamon, salt, and pepper until just combined.
3. Begin adding flour 1/4 cup at a time, kneading after each addition until the dough is barely sticky.
4. Flour a clean, dry surface and place your ball of sweet potato dough on it.
5. Cut ball into quarters and set aside 3 of them.
6. With your hands, begin to roll out the quarter of dough into a long rope the width of your index finger (you may need to split the rope in two to avoid breakage!).
7. Cut rope into 1-inch sections.
8. Repeat with remaining quarters of dough ball.
9. If freezing, place gnocchi on a cookie sheet and freeze for 20 minutes. Put frozen gnocchi into a large freezer bag and store in freezer until ready to serve. When ready to serve, continue with the next step.
10. If cooking immediately, or cooking from frozen, bring a large pot of water to boil. Add gnocchi, taking care not to overcrowd (may want to cook in batches).
11. When gnocchi float to the top, remove from the boiling pot with a slotted spoon.
12. Transfer to a skillet heated with butter and garlic. Sprinkle with salt & pepper, and saute until golden brown (about 5-10 minutes).
13. Remove from skillet and serve immediately.