Sweet potatoes give traditional potato gnocchi a naturally sweet twist. Here, they’re served with a kasha and shallot sauce. Two recipes below.
HERE COMES THANKSGIVING, AND THIS YEAR WE DON’T KNOW QUITE HOW THINGS WILL GO. Maybe, if everything goes well, the swabs the caution the distancing the results, we’ll have visitors, family! a full house, and a dinner table surrounded by loving faces. Or maybe it will be just us, for a while longer, with messages coming via email and text and a quiet, more reflective time, and brave personal portions, and the festivities conducted via cheerful Zooms. A lot of us, that is, still don’t know if we will be many or few, and the likeliest outcome will be: few.
So what to do about the cooking? Here’s one solution. These sweet potato gnocchi taste like the harvest holidays—they taste like sweet, comfortable autumn. Gnocchi is a traditional Italian pasta that is, like most traditional dishes, wildly varied in its execution, depending on who’s making it and where it’s being made. Often, it is made with potatoes—not so often are those potatoes sweet. Whatever your gnocchi style, you can top them with whatever sauce you like, making these absolutely flexible for your Thanksgiving table.
They do take a bit of time to make, but the whole process really is simple, and this recipe makes a huge amount, and it can be frozen, so you can cook up as much or as little as you need when you need it. These gnocchi make a great side for a simple roast. Or you can have them the way we did this weekend, as a great hearty main.
To do so, we cooked some kasha (recipe here), sautéed some shallots in olive oil and butter, and then combined everything. The shallots and kasha balanced out the natural sweetness of the sweet potatoes, taking the whole dish in a savory direction.
Once you’ve tried this recipe, you’ll think of your own toppings to go with the basics—like a modest coating of a simple tomato sauce or a dressing of olive oil with sautéed garlic. I would even consider having it as the foundation of a taco, with crunchy fine-sliced cabbage and a little cohiba or cheddar and a fresh-chopped salsa of tomato, cilantro and onion.
Sweet Potato Gnocchi
Ingredients
- 4 pounds of orange-flesh sweet potatoes
- 1 12 to 15-ounce container of ricotta drained in a sieve for about half an hour
- 2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese; optional: more for serving
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 egg beaten
- 4 cups or so white flour
Instructions
- Start the sweet potatoes in the microwave—stab them all over with a fork and then nuke for about 5 minutes. Then finish baking them in a 350ºF oven. When they are soft and can be easily pierced with that fork, remove them. (The additional baking will take about 15 – 20 minutes, depending on size.) Once they are done, cut them in half and let them cool on a rack.
- When the sweet potatoes are cool, scoop out the s flesh and put it in a bowl. Please note that I used our largest bowl. Mash it very well. Add in the beaten egg, the ricotta, and salt and mix well. Then mix in the flour. I recommend using your hands. You may not need quite this much, you may need a bit more. Mix together until it forms a soft, no longer sticky dough.
- Pull off hunks of the dough and roll each out into a rope about 1-1/2 inches thick. Slice it into one-inch pieces. Set the pieces on a baking sheet (with a Silpat or a sheet of parchment paper). Work your way through all the dough. Finally, score each piece with the tines of a fork.
- You can make the gnocchi ahead up to this point and freeze them for later use. See Kitchen Notes.
- Cook the gnocchi. Bring a pot of well salted water to a boil. When it is at a nice rolling boil, add the gnocchi. Don’t overcrowd the pot or they will not cook properly—work in batches if you need to. When they are done, they will float to the top. Remove them with a slotted spoon or a scoop. We usually use the Joseph Joseph scoop/colander/strainer, which we’ve had for years (and yes, we bought it ourselves).
- When cooked, toss with your favorite sauce. See the recipe below for our version with kasha and shallots.
Kitchen Notes
Looking for ways to use these delicious gnocchi? Here’s how we turned them into a hearty, savory vegetarian main course.
Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Kasha and Shallots
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 cup cooked kasha (see Kitchen Notes for our kasha recipe link)
- 1/4 cup shallots, minced
- 16 uncooked sweet potato gnocchi (recipe above)
Instructions
- Brown the butter. Melt it in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Skim off the solids and discard them; cook the butter gently until it browns. Be careful—don’t let it burn. If it starts to blacken, throw it out and start again.
- When the butter has browned and has a nice nutty flavor, add it to the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the minced shallots and sauté until translucent, about two minutes. Then add the cooked kasha. Cook four or five minutes or until the grains become slightly crisp.
- Meanwhile, cook the gnocchi according to the recipe above. Add the cooked gnocchi to the pan with the buttery kasha. Toss and sauté for a couple of minutes. You are ready to serve. If you wish, pass extra Parmesan cheese.
I’ve never made sweet potato gnocchi! Like the idea, a lot. And like it served with shallots and kasha. This is also a great Thanksgiving dish if you’re having a crowd and some folks are vegetarian — it doubles both as a side and as a main. Although crowds aren’t something we’ll be experiencing this year — it’ll be just the two of us. Anyway, really nice — thanks.
Hmm ! Love making and eating gnocchi and equally use a lot of sweet potatoes . . . no idea why so far I have not combined the two ! Would happily eat this as a full meal with perhaps a bitter green salad . . . but like your way of doing kasha also . . . OK: recipe is atop my kitchen pile with thanks !