I do love to cook and Fall is the perfect season to make sweet potato gnocchi. Frankly, I could eat these pillows of goodness any time of the year and so I did! I don't know why I waited so many years to make these from scratch. I just needed the motivation I received after a trip to Italy in 2004. The last day before flying out of Rome, hubby and I literally ran around the Eternal City to take in as much as we could. We ended up on a vibrant (busy and noisy) street just in time for lunch. We chose a sidewalk cafe and I proceeded to order their special which was delicate gnocchi drenched in a blue cheese sauce sprinkled with mushrooms. Molto bene!
Gnocchi is one of the easiest pastas to make from scratch. No rolling with a machine, no fancy tools although I did invest in a gnocchi board to get those nice grooves that sauce sticks to readily.
I could provide the actual recipe, but there isn't one. I put about a cup of roasted sweet potato with one egg into my food processor. Give it a whirl and begin to add flour to get a somewhat stiff batter. I add a bit of salt and pepper and sometimes a pinch a grated nutmeg, stir and refrigerate for a couple of hours. The dough may be quite soft. Turn onto a board dusted with additional flour and cut off a piece of dough, roll into a "fat pencil" shape. Cut your gnocchi into serving pieces. If you have a "gnocchi"board use that but don't let the lack of one deter you from making these. Make "rustic" pieces just by slicing them.
To freeze them for later I put them on a parchment lined sheet pan and place it in the freezer. After they are frozen transfer them to a plastic bag. When you want to cook them drop them into boiling water; they will rise to the top when done. These are good with a brown butter sage sauce or some gorgonzola cheese sprinkled on top! Enjoy!
I'm taking a break from my France travel posts to bring you a welcome addition to my soup kitchen. This time of year it's all about pumpkin and body warming soups. As a matter of fact, there's a pot of home made clam chowder brewing on the stove top as I write this. It's one of those "secret" family recipes. I'll NEVER tell!
Until that day, You'll just have to make a few of the other favorites like this sweet potato leek soup. Feel free to browse the "soup" button on the right to get a glimpse of comforting soups. Butternut squash, sausage and bean, pumpkin, spicy black bean, several chicken soups, Vietnamese noodle, lentil, split pea, etc. Hey, maybe I could open that pasta/soup kitchen after all! Meanwhile, the following is probably one of the easiest to prepare....Enjoy!
Sweet Potato Leek Soup
serves about 4
3 - 4 medium sweet potatoes (or yams) peeled and chopped into golf ball sized chunks
2 leeks, only the white part (usually about 4 inches in length), chopped
1/4 yellow onion, chopped
2 cups water
Bring the ingredients to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Add 3 cups of chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 tsp salt
3 cloves of roasted garlic, chopped
Simmer for 10-15 more minutes until potatoes are tender. Puree in the blender in batches and transfer back into the pan. At this point I refrigerated it for a few hours, but you can certainly serve it immediately. The only difference is that mine was a bit thicker as it sat. Serve with crunchy bread and a salad.
NOTE: The picture above is quite plain. Don't be mislead....the flavors are amazingly complex.
I'm just a pasta making machine and loving every moment! This ambitious endeavor has always been on my "bucket list" of things to do. If you're a cook like I profess to be, a trip to Italy will launch your cooking skills. Inspiration is everywhere. The fresh pasta and ingredients are in every trattoria, bistro or restaurant. They even have amazing food at the auto strata eateries which look like a large 7-eleven from the outside but far, far from it as you enter. So how do you savor the flavors of those places? You make pasta!
My "pasta of the month" is sweet potato gnocchi from scratch. To me, it's the starting point for pasta making. If you can play with play dough, you can make gnocchi. And there is nothing better than fresh pasta. This recipe makes over 100 little pillows of goodness. I needed to use my new toy, a gnocchi board. I'm still working on technique but with the right amount of pressure I'll have these babies looking machine made, perfetto (perfect).
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sweet potato
2 cups flour + more for rolling and shaping
1 egg
1/2 tbsp salt for cooking water
Microwave the potato, skin and scoop out to measure. Place chunks in a large bowl, mash with a fork or masher and cool a bit before mixing with flour.
Stir in the flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough forms. You may not need all the flour. The dough should be soft.
Now stir in the egg and mix well. If it's on the wet sticky side, add more flour (1/2 cup or so). Divide the dough into 4-6 pieces. On a surface sprinkled with flour, roll each piece like you're making a long snake about 1 inch in diameter and as long as the dough will take you. Then cut into 1/2 inch "pillows" (pieces). If you happen to have a gnocchi board lying around use it to make the ridges. A fork can do the same thing or you can leave them without the ridges (more rustic) As you make each piece place them on a pieces of parchment paper on a baking sheet or surface. Repeat the gnocchi making until the dough is gone. I estimate that you'll have well over 100, possibly around 120!!
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| roll and cut |
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| form with board |
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| ready to freeze or cook |
You now have the option of freezing them for a later time. Just place the gnocchi filled baking sheet directly into the freezer for about an hour or two. When frozen you can put them in freezer bags. It will take slightly longer to cook the gnocchi in a frozen state and no need to defrost.
To cook that day: Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Put the gnocchi in but don't crowd them. When they rise to the top (usually in 1 minute or less), they're done. You can do this in batches. Have the melted butter or browned sage sauce waiting in another pan or pop into a warm oven as you make more.
When it comes to how many per serving....how hungry are you? Between 15 and 20 is a sizable portion! I guarantee that these will melt in your mouth!
