Since I am a girl who takes being called a “potato eater” as a compliment, it should come as no surprise to anyone that I love gnocchi. I mean, really. Does it get any better than pillowy potato dumplings swathed in sauce?
Rarely, my friends. The answer is, rarely.
But in all my life, I can only remember a few times when I have had truly homemade gnocchi. I’ve had it a time or two at Gina’s Place, a fabulous Italian restaurant in Bonneauville, PA, run by a Sicilian woman who, along with her family, turn out some seriously amazing food.
The night after I signed my lease in Oakland, I went back to the Mission, where I was staying with a friend, and since she had a work function that night, took myself out to a little Italian restaurant that served me some of the best housemade gnocchi I’ve ever had. (And the waiter? Not so bad himself…both because he was a hottie AND because he could barely speak anything that wasn’t Italian.)
And once, at a memorable evening at Maggie and Heal’s house, we showed up and found that Maggie had made dozens and dozens of perfectly shaped gnocchi, all lined up on parchment paper and ready to plunge into boiling water. Um, yum.
It’s not that I have had trouble with store-bought gnocchi—I love it, too—but with some Happy Boy Farms sweet potatoes in the crisper, it occurred to me that I might put a weekend evening to good use by trying to make some of the homemade variety. Topped with a simple sauce made of Straus Family Creamery butter, Happy Boy Farms sage and salt, and paired with a glass of Sonoma County Merlot, it was a decadent way to serve up a lovely weekend dinner.
I’m calling these “rustic” with a tip of the hat to Laura Rebecca’s Kitchen, which features Rustic Napoleons in today’s entry:
“I’ve decided that anything I make — be it baked, sauteed, fried, roasted — that doesn’t come out looking like something out of a Williams-Sonoma cookbook will be dubbed “rustic.”
Hence, rustic Napoleons. (I should probably go back through the archives and rename 95-percent of the recipes here.)”
Because it was my first attempt at gnocchi, these didn’t look nearly as pretty as the ones I’ve eaten by more talented chefs. And this was even after getting some over-the-phone instruction from a Sicilian friend who’s a pretty talented chef himself. Thusly and therefore, mine are rustic, because otherwise I’m going to have to tell the truth, which is that they looked a little bit like small thumbprint cookies without the jam in the center.
But they did not taste like thumbprint cookies. Not in the least. They were delicious and satisfying comfort food, which is just what I was looking for when I started the process. And using sweet potatoes rather than regular potatoes imparted a Fall-spirited earthiness that I loved.
One final note: This recipe made enough gnocchi for four people as a side dish or two people (three if no one’s really starving) as a main dish. The gnocchi freeze quite well, as long as you put them on a cookie sheet and freeze them individually for about 20 minutes before you put them in a bag for safekeeping in the freezer. When you’re ready to cook the frozen gnocchi, just boil water, salt the water once it’s boiling, and add the frozen gnocchi at that point. Once they’ve floated to the top of the water, let them cook about another minute or two and they’ll be ready to serve.
Rustic Sweet Potato Gnocchi
(Serves 4 as a side dish, 2 as a main course)
Approximately 1/2 pound of sweet potatoes
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1 egg
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 TBSP. olive oil
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the sweet potatoes until they are soft. Remove them and let them cool.
- Mash the sweet potatoes (you can also rice them, but I don’t own a ricer, so I just used a potato masher with reasonable results). Add the salt, nutmeg, olive oil and egg and mix well. Add the flour a little bit at a time, working it into the dough before adding more. You want the dough to be soft and pliable, so if you don’t need to add the full cup of flour, that’s OK.
- Boil a pot of salted water. While the water is boiling, pinch off evenly-sized pieces of dough (approximately 1/2 TBSP per gnocchi) and roll them in your palms to make an almond-shaped piece. Then use your thumb to gently indent them. When the water is boiling, drop them in and let them cook until they float to the surface. Remove them with a slotted spoon and serve immediately with a sauce of your choosing. I recommend melting butter and sizzling about a handful of torn fresh sage leaves in the butter, then adding some salt to taste and drizzling the mixture over the gnocchi just before serving.
Although it’s a little early to be thinking about the weekend already, this is my contribution for Weekend Herb Blogging, which is hosted this week by Amy and Jonny of We Are Never Full. This weekend, I hope you’ll swing by their joint to read the full round-up.
on Oct 14th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Don’t you just love the word ‘rustic!’ :-) I think they look great!
on Oct 15th, 2008 at 6:01 am
Laughing here because I think “rustic” is such a good cooking word! I love the idea of gnocchi with sweet potatoes and whole wheat flour. I’ve never been brave enough yet to try making them, but this sounds like a dish that would become a favorite!
on Oct 15th, 2008 at 6:02 am
BTW, yaaay, comment worked!
on Oct 15th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Nicole, thank you! I totally think they look like little thumbprint cookies…not what I was going for, but hey…tasty is as tasty does!
Kalyn, yes — yay! I’m so glad it finally worked for you! And yes — I thought this was a good combo. Probably a little heavier than it would be with white flour, but still tasty. And lower-glycemic!
on Oct 15th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Hey boss,
My little girlies love gnocchi. I have to try this. Looks yummy and a bit more nutritious than the regular store bought kind.
on Oct 17th, 2008 at 1:00 am
Kim, it was definitely a bit more nutritious, but still, basically, a dumpling. So there’s that. But a tasty dumpling!
on Oct 20th, 2008 at 6:52 am
[...] the Inadvertent Gardener, brings us a twist on an old classic with her Rustic Sweet Potato Gnocchi. She deserves a BIG round of applause because this was her first try at making homemade gnocchi. You [...]
on Oct 20th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
These look fabulous!
And I’m so glad I checked out the round-up! You have a great blog going on over here… and I’m pleased to find another local eater!!
on Oct 21st, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Foodhappens, thanks! They were mighty tasty. Hope you get a chance to try them, and I’ll have to swing by and check out your blog, too!
on Oct 21st, 2008 at 10:46 pm
I can never get gnocchi right. I’ll have to try out this recipe too.
on Oct 22nd, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Welcome to the Bay Area – long over due, but I just found your site! We have a little plot of dirt as well as many containers on our deck, that we are trying to garden in as well. We have tried everything that we love to eat and it seems sugar snaps and peppers do the best of us – but we keep trying! Someday we will have meyers! I love gnocchi, definitely will try your recipe!
Also, have you heard of GYO, (grow your own) – you should submit your wonderful garden creations!
~Chez Us
on Oct 23rd, 2008 at 12:37 am
Jude, I seriously don’t know if this would be considered “right,” but it worked for me.
Chez Us, we’re going to have to meet up at some point. I’ve not quite started with the growing-of-things here in the Bay Area, but am going to have to start, it’s clear. After all, who can say no to growing things in this amazing place? And dealing with my very own microclimate will be an interesting challenge.
on Nov 1st, 2008 at 6:54 pm
[...] between his blends, baked delicious bread, made crepes for the first time, whipped up some gnocchi, and mixed my cocktails with local liquor. I discovered a butcher, a natural foods grocery and a [...]
on Nov 2nd, 2008 at 11:41 pm
Oh my wow…
I just made this, my first experience with gnocchi. I made a brown butter sauce and threw in some sage, shallots and little cubes of parmesan to sizzle up with a little sea salt. The combination of savory/salty and sweet gnocchi was to die for.
This will be going in my “to impress” repertoire
on Nov 3rd, 2008 at 12:39 am
Hillary, I’m so glad it worked for you! I’m definitely making it on occasions when I need to impress, too, so we can be in solidarity on that. :-)
on Nov 3rd, 2008 at 6:28 pm
One question: every other sweet potato gnocchi recipe I’ve seen calls for ricotta too. Have you tried that? Does it make it even fluffier?
on Nov 4th, 2008 at 6:27 am
Hillary, I’m certain it would make them fluffier, but I haven’t tried that. Possibly an experiment for future use!
on Nov 13th, 2008 at 6:36 am
[...] potato gnocchi. I found a recipe online (actually, that’s how I find *all* my recipes these days), and so last time we were at [...]