Sweet Potato Gnocchi
Ever since I started making Lena’s potato gnocchi, I’ve been thinking about ways to give these pillowy dumplings some color. I thought about adding spinach to turn them green, or beets to make them purple.
I had a few sweet potatoes left over in the pantry and decided to see what would happen if I used them instead of regular potatoes. The results were these festive orange bites almost too pretty to eat.
They taste slightly sweeter than their original counterpart. The cinnamon I added to the dough may seem a bit out of place in a savory dish. But it echos the sweetness from the sweet potatoes and add a depth of warmth.
These gnocchi are great with some marinara sauce and shaved Parmesan cheese. They are also a creative way to serve up a classic holiday ingredient for Thanksgiving. I like them with a butter sauce made of browned butter, a few sage leaves, a pinch of cinnamon, a drizzle of maple syrup and some salt and pepper. Comforting and decadent, exactly how a Thanksgiving meal should be.
Sweet Potato Gnocchi
- Sweet potatoes, peeled and diced, 3
- Egg yolks, 2
- All-purpose flour, 3 cups, plus a bit more for rolling out the dough
- Cinnamon, 1 teaspoon
Boil sweet potatoes in water until they are very tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and mash them in a bowl until smooth. Set aside until they are cool enough to handle by hand.
Add flour and eggs to the mashed sweet potatoes and mix with a spoon until everything is well-incorporated. Turn the mixture onto a floured surface and knead until a smooth dough forms, about 7 minutes. Keep flouring your hands and the working surface if the dough sticks.
Cut the dough into 8 sections. Roll each section into sausage shapes about 3/4 inch in diameter. Slice the dough into 3/4 inch disks. Sprinkle the disks with some flour.
Hold a fork in your left hand and press a disk against the tines with your right thumb just hard enough to make ridges. Then flip the disk downward off the fork so it curls up into a elongated shell shape. Repeat with the rest of the disks. You can omit this step, but the ridges help the gnocchi collect more sauce.
To cook, boil the gnocchi in a saucepan of lightly salted, barely simmering water. Cook for about 5 minutes. They will rise to the surface when they are ready. Take them out with a slotted spoon.
Serves 6.