It is the time of year when the good veg. in the grocery stores seem limited to cabbage, squash, and sweet potato. I was looking for some way to combine sweet potato and radicchio, and the best option seemed to be making the sweet potato into gnocchi. Most of the recipes I read had added sugar, or maple syrup. This seems excessive as the sweet potato is usually sweet enough on its own.
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
- 1 egg
- 2-1/2 to 3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
Prick the sweet potatoes all over with a fork and then bake in a 400 degree oven until tender, 40 minutes or so. Let cool, then peel and mash. Add the ricotta, egg, and salt to the mashed sweet potato and mix well. add two cups of flour and stir until thoroughly incorporated. The dough will be sticky. Add just enough of the remaining flour, in 1/4 cup increments, until the dough is workable by hand. Turn out onto a floured work surface, knead for two minutes or so, then divide into 8 equal segments.
Set out a cookie sheet lined with parchment dusted with flour (or a Silpat, if you have one) and bring a gallon of water with two tbsp salt to a boil on the stove.
Roll each of the 8 segments into a “snake” roughly 3/4″ thick. Cut into equal segments. Press each flat, then, with a floured fork, press lightly and roll into the traditional gnocchi shape. Set each gnocchi on the cookie sheet while you process the rest of the dough.
When the water is boiling, add all of the gnocchi at once. Stir gently to prevent them from sticking together and boil until cooked, 3-5 minutes. Drain. At this point, you can use them in any gnocchi recipe (pan sauteed with browned butter, sage, and garlic, for instance) or you can spread them on a cookie sheet, let them cool, and freeze them. To use the frozen gnocchi, thaw and either bake them or saute them. The sweet potato pairs well with bitter greens, like radicchio or broccoli rabe, and umami-rich flavors, like wild mushrooms. I baked mine in brown butter with radicchio, lamb sausage, and goat cheese.