Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Sage Cream

For those of you in Ontario (most readers I'm guessing), go pick up the new Food and Drink at the LCBO. The Holiday edition this year is full of tasty recipes and useful tips and tricks for decorating and gift ideas. So far I've tried satays with dipping sauce, shrimp and basil wrapped in Serrano ham with saffron cream, and last night, I made the sweet potato gnocchi.

I followed the instructions for the most part, but found I needed less flour than they called for. I also couldn't resist throwing a tiny pinch of cayenne into the dough to add a little depth. Here is my version of the recipe with cayenne, less flour and a new sauce I invented on a whim.



Sweet Potato Gnocchi
serves 6, with seconds

1 kg raw sweet potatoes, you will need 750 g, or 3 cups, roasted sweet potato (about 3 large)
2 eggs
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne
450-550 g flour (3 1/2-4 1/2 cups)
extra flour for dusting

1 Preheat the oven to 400 F and bake the sweet potatoes on a line sheet for an hour, or until a fork pierces to the centre easily
2 Let the sweet potatoes cool, then peel and mash them well or use a ricer to press them. You need 3 cups total of potato flesh
3 Blend the two eggs, salt, pepper and cayenne into the potato until smooth
4 Add the flour 1 cup at a time until the dough is just lightly sticky but cohesive. I needed just less than 4 cups
5 Divide the dough into 10 portions, flour a surface to roll them out on and roll into ropes about an inch or less thick. Cut each rope into pieces about an inch long and place on floured baking sheets
6 You can wrap the sheets in plastic and refrigerate for up to a day, or freeze the sheets then put the individually frozen gnocchi into plastic bags for storage
7 When you are about 15 minutes away from serving, put a large pot of salted water on to boil. Once it is at a rolling boil, drop about 1/4 of the gnocchi in and cook for about 3 minutes, stirring frequently so they don't stick. Once they are floating on the surface, taste one for readiness and if ready, skim them out with a strainer and shake off the water off before placing in a large bowl. Return the same cooking water to a boil and repeat.
8 While the gnocchi cook, make the sauce and boil some peas if you want to use them

Sage Cream
makes enough for the gnocchi above

1/3 cup butter
6 sage leaves, roughly chopped
1-2 tbsp lemon juice (2 if you want to taste the lemon)
1/3 cup heavy cream

1 Place butter in a LARGE pot over low heat with the sage and cook until the solids at the bottom are browning and smell delicious, then remove from the heat and pick out the sage
2 Whisk in the lemon juice and then the cream until the sauce is smooth and add the cooked gnocchi, stirring until everything is coated with the sauce
3 Divide among the serving plates and serve with lots of Parmesan on the table and a sage leaf on each serving (if you're feeling fancy)

When I made this, I was craving vegetables. I love nothing more than buttered peas, so I thought it would be fine to throw some cooked frozen peas into a sauce like this. If you and your guests like peas, it really helps fill out the meal. If you don't fancy them, try a side salad, or go rogue and count the sage as a vegetable.

Making gnocchi may seem like a complicated process, but I realized as I made it that most of it is about trusting your own instincts. Sometimes the flour will be more or less than called for by the recipe, trust your instincts and stop adding it when the dough is just lightly sticky! Same goes for cooking time, I made mine bigger, so they needed to float for a few extra moments to cook fully in the middle- take one out and test it!