Sweet Potato Gnocchi
A naturally sweet take on traditional potato gnocchi.
Servings 60 or so 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
Gnocchi, more or less. This recipe may be cut in half—in that case, still use the entire egg. And yes, it can be doubled. In that case, simply double everything.
Frozen gnocchi. If you choose to freeze the gnocchi, set them aside just when you’ve made the individual pieces. Put the entire baking sheet with the individual gnocchi straight in the freezer. Once they are frozen, which should be in a couple of hours, put them in a Ziploc bag, push out all the air you can, and return to the freezer.