Yeah, when you hear the title it just seems obvious. Why did I not think about doing that before! Delicious soft sweet potato meet fluffy tastiness! This recipe comes from “Food and wine” courtesy of Houston chef Johnny Rhodes and I can’t thank him enough for this, what a treat! Pasta, bread, gnocchi, these are the great equalizer. Making the best gnocchi is not about spending the most on ingredients, the ingredients are basic, it’s about talent or effort. What I lack in talent I make up in effort, so if you fail the first time you try this recipe, don’t give up! Try again, you got this!

• Difficulty: high (unless you are a gnocchi making prodigy)
• Time: a lot of hippopotamus

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 lb. sweet potato
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour (plus some extra for your surface to roll the gnocchi without sticking)
• 1/2 cup whole-wheat floor
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tsp salt

Step 1:

Set oven to 350ºF. Once it reaches temperature, place the sweet potatoes on the oven rack and let them cook for 1 hour and a half. Until they are soft mash potato quality.

Once cooked cut them length wise, let them cool down and reserve the flesh in a container.

I recommend doing this the day before making the gnocchi you can keep it in the fridge, cuts down on the prep work to make the actual gnocchi.

Step 2:

Take the chilled sweet potato flesh through a food mill or use a fork to turn it into a smooth sweet potato mash.

Mix the all purpose flour and whole wheat flour in a small bowl.

Step 3:

In a large bowl beat the egg add salt, sweet potato mash, add the Parmesan and finally the floor mix.

You should now have sticky dough!

 

Step 4:

Prepare parchment paper (about the length of 2 baking sheets) and a thin sprinkle of flour.

On a good surface, marble or granite, lay some all purpose flour and place your sticky dough. If it is very sticky sprinkle some flour on top. You want to be able to roll it into a rope without it sticking to your hand or surface.

This is the tricky part. roll it into a large rope. Cut it in 2 or 3, then roll one of the piece into a thinner rope. These gnocchi are pretty filling so you don’t want them to be too large. They recommend a half inch rope and 1 inch long gnocchi.

Place the little gnocchi on the parchment paper you prepared. have a little distance between each gnocchi so they don’t stick together.

You can freeze some of them if you don’t plan on cooking all of them.

Step 5:

oil 1-2 baking sheets.

Bring a large sauce pan to a boil. Fill a bowl with Ice water. You will want to use a strainer to delicately drop some of the gnocchi in the boiling water. Work in 3-4 batches. once gnocchi rise to the surface, scoop them out dump them in the ice water. Take them out of the ice water and place them on the oiled baking sheet. Repeat until all gnocchi are cooked.

Step 6:

Heat a large skillet over medium heat, add a little oil and butter. Add the gnocchi in a single layer. Do not disturb you want to get a little crust. Once lightly brown  turn them cook other side.

After that it is up to you, the recipe on Food and Wine had a butter sauce. I prefer tomato sauce so I just add the cooked gnocchi in warmed bolognaise, place it on a plate, sprinkle a little Parmesan and Va Bene!