Sunday, November 22, 2009

Not Just Another Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Brown Butter Sage Sauce Post


I know what you're thinking: Does the world really need another post about sweet potato gnocchi? Particularly, you may be saying to yourself,  a gnocchi with a brown butter, brown-butter-sage, brown-butter-sage-and-Parmesan, or any other permutation of brown butter sauce?

But please indulge me! Perhaps you will forgive me if I divulge the following facts:

1. This was my very first homemade gnocchi; in fact, it was my first homemade pasta of any kind. You only make your first pasta once, after all.
2. I had a lot of extra sweet potatoes sitting around from my CSA. In a way, I had no choice but to turn them into gnocchi.
and
3. Poppa Trix and I actually made it together, and it was fun, and he finds the whole thing so exciting that ever since we made it he has been badgering me non-stop to post this.  So even though I will admit that there has been something of a glut of sweet potato and butternut squash gnocchi posts floating around the interwebs of late, I've decided to post this anyway. They really were fun to make, they came out astonishingly well for a first try, and when I told Poppa Trix I didn't really know if I was going to do a post about them after all he looked so sad I gave in.


Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Brown Butter Sage Sauce
About  3 cups of cooked, peeled sweet potato, cut into chunks
2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
1 egg
sal & pepper, to taste

Mash the sweet potato
 Add the eggs, a few pinches of salt & pepper, and the flour. Mix with a fork. Your dough should be slightly sticky, but workable.

Transfer to a work surface, and make ropey tubes, about 1/2 inch in diameter
 
Our ropes may not have been precisely symmetrical. ...
Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for about a half hour. Next, cut the ropes into 1 inch pieces and score with a fork. Look at all those plump little starchy soldiers just waiting to be boiled!
 
To cook, plop into boiling water, and, as Mario Batali says, don't just wait until they float - wait until they're trying to escape the pot.  For the sauce, there's really no need to measure. Just brown some butter (by cooking over medium heat until you pick up that distinctive nutty smell just as the butter begins to brown - but not burn!), toss in some sage leaves and let them crisp up like little chips, a dash of salt and pepper, combine with your gnocchi and then - heaven.

I cannot believe I've never made this before. What on earth was I waiting for? I know they don't look perfect - they're not all uniform, and I can certainly work on my fork scoring. But they were light, and pillowy, and short of eating a just-laid egg, about as fresh as food can get. So even if you've read a ton of these gnocchi posts and haven't made your own yet, I hope this post has inspired you to try it for yourself.
Homemade Sweet Potato Gnocchi on Foodista





30 comments:

  1. This looks succulent! There are never recipes on the web :)

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  2. Congrats on your first homemade pasta. They shouldn't be perfect if they are handmade. In fact, having imperfections are a badge of honor among the pasta cognescenti. Buon appetito!

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  3. My husband just read this and is very excited for me to make this, this week!

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  4. Well done on your first gnocchi. I fell in love with making sweet potato gnocchi the first time I made it. The dough is so soft and pillowy - beautiful to work with. And you simply can't beat a good brown butter-sage sauce!

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  5. Gnocchi is always on my list, but I haven't tried it because I thought it was a big pain in the you-know-what to make. Thanks for this post-- you've certainly inspired me!

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  6. your gnocci looks fabulous! i love the homemade look anyway - perfect pasta replicas creep me out; there's no love in those machine creations. this looks like a great way to use up the rest of our sweet potatoes, too. maybe i can also get my guy in the kitchen to help since he loves cooking, too. ;)

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  7. thank Poppa for urging you to post this and congrats on a wonderful recipe....love sweet potatoes no matter how many times I read about them....

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  8. I'm going to have to try this with my little friends, they love pasta and sweet potatoes, I think they would love this.

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  9. Great first gnocchi!! That's really cool that poppa trix likes to have his hands in food!

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  10. as usual you have outdone yourself on this one for the first time....been making the potato ones for years tried every type but this kind...and looks like these will be on the list for the holiday perfect color for thanksgiving on my table.....I love love love this!!!!

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  11. Definitely going to try it! Thanks so much for posting!

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  12. wow is all I have to say! that looks really delicious. I have make brown butter sage sauce for pumpkin raviloi and that was really yummy!

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  13. a wonderful post!you make me try this recipe!

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  14. My six year old loves shaping gnocchi and she's really good at it. I even purchased her very own gnocchi paddle that she took for show and tell one day. If I wasn't sure I was having an impact that sealed it for me.

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  15. Congrats on your first pasta-making experience. I have yet to make gnocchi, but I keep dreaming of these flavor combos. Sounds so good.

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  16. Nice first gnocci! Looks fantastic. I will try it soon. I love gnocci but Mister doesn't like it too much so I hope this will change his mind :)

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  17. I thnk these lood amazing and delicious! I just can't believe we both attempted homemade pasta on the same day--that is such a wonderful coincidence!

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  18. oh wow you made Gnocchi impressive give yourself a pat on the back girlie

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  19. Poppa Trix looks like a pro @ rolling gnocchi! These look and sound great- anything with pasta and sweet potato has gotta be a winner! And your first attemp at making pasta was a great success. Love it!!!

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  20. now I want gnocchi!! this looks great. Haven't made gnocchi in years and definitely have never made sweet potato type.

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  21. These sound amazing. We have all this sage in our garden and rarely use it for anything. Now we have the perfect recipe.

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  22. This is hilarious because Gnocchi is next on my list to make (I have never made it before either!) and I too have been fearing the judgmental "ANOTHER Gnocchi post?" stares...

    Yours looks great and confirms to me that it's not as hard as I once thought it to be! I love the photos of rolling in action :)

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  23. 1/2 the beauty of homemade pasta is that it looks like crap half the time! Gnocchi should be different sizes and appear to have fought the whole fork scoring business with their lives - or at least that's what I tell myself when my gnochhi is that way!
    Be sure to tell Poppa Trix that his handiwork looks delicious! They need encouragement, those men-folk

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  24. Sounds wonderful and yes there is room for one more sweet potatoe gnocci recipe since you did it so well.

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  25. Gnocchi with sweet potatoes are amazing!Can't believe its your first time.They look so good!

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  26. I don't mind having another sweet potato gnocchi with the same sauce. This is your blog and your experience teaches other readers about your cooking. And even if doesn't look perfect, they're still absolutely delicious.

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  27. This looks delicious! Looking forward to trying it myself with my own two helpers!

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  28. Thanks all! You're right - maybe the beauty of homemade really is in the imperfection.
    @Steve - Maybe your 6-year-old can teach me a thing or two?
    @jackie - I hope you do make it - I can just see the girls having a great time doing it!

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  29. Oh how we love Gnocchi can't wait to try it with the brown butter sage. ;)

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  30. If you want to take it up to a crazy level...follow recipe, but add chopped fresh rosemary to the dough. When making the sage butter throw in a spoon of orange juice concentrate. Your guests might weep.

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