Sweet potato gnocchi with bacon and sage

Making pasta by hand is maybe the messiest thing I do in my kitchen. Flour seems to get everywhere and my hands get coated with sticky dough. Still, there is nothing more delicious than biting into a freshly made ravioli or lasagna or gnocchi and knowing that you made it all from scratch.

Gnocchi is pretty simple to make. Potato, egg, flour. Mix, boil, devour. This time, I decided to make a dish full of fall flavors by using sweet potato, brown butter, and fried sage. Bacon, of course, is timeless and always in season in my home.

Be careful to not overwork the dough; you want light, fluffy gnocchi. Nothing dense or heavy. This recipe makes a lot so I recommend freezing the uncooked extras for another meal. Happily, there is no need to defrost the gnocchi; use them in you dish straight from frozen.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 medium sweet potatoes

1 cup flour plus extra for work surface dusting

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1 large egg

4 tablespoons butter

3 slices of bacon, diced

1/4 cup of sage leaves

More Parmesan cheese, for serving

Method:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Bake the sweet potatoes on a baking sheet in the oven for 1 1/2 hours or until the flesh is tender and easily pierced with a knife. Let the potatoes cool.

Peel the potatoes and push the flesh through a ricer or food mill until silky smooth.

Meanwhile, which together the flour, parmesean, nutmeg and salt. Dump the potato onto a floured work surface and make a well. To the well, add the flour and beaten egg. Mix together with your hands. The finished dough will be sticky.

Divide the dough into 4 equal portions. Reflour the work surface.

Roll the dough into a long skinny rope about 3/4 inch thick. Cut the rope in 1 inch segments, then roll each gnocchi along the tines of a fork to make ridges. Repeat with the remaining portions of dough.

Heat a pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add the gnocchi in batches to the boiling water. (Or freeze some uncooked for use later). Cook the gnocchi until they float to the surface; remove with a slotted spoon to an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Drain and toss lightly with oil in another bowl to prevent sticking.

Place a large skillet over medium high heat. When heated, add the bacon and cook until crispy. Remove to a paper towel lined plate and drain the grease from the pan. Add the butter and melt it. Add the sage leaves and fry them in the butter. Toss in the gnocchi and cook until the butter browns. Remove from the heat and toss with the bacon. Serve with grated parmesan cheese, if desired.

Comments

Raspberry Pomegranate Jam

Tis the season to be making homemade gifts! Pomegranates are in season and their juice is a festive deep ruby red color. I knew I had to make them into a jam to give away. Straight pomegranate flavor is a little tart for me; I added raspberries for the texture of their seeds and their sweetness. This is a very simple recipe to make and will yield 6 to 7 8 ounces jars of jam or 12 to 14 4 ounce jars, if you like to give away sample sizes during the holidays. Enjoy! Ingredients: 3 1/2 cups pomegranate juice 1 cup mashed raspberries 7 cups sugar 1 tablespoon butter 1 1/75 ounce package Sure Jell Method: Sterilize your jars and lids. Set aside. In a heavy bottomed large stock pot, add the pomegranate juice, raspberries and butter. Mix well. Add in the sugar. Bring to a full rolling boil then stir in the Sure Jell. Allow to boil hard for 1 minutes. Remove from the heat and skim off any foam. Ladle into the sterile jars, twist on the lids and pr

Peek-a-boo Squares

My grandma, Mimi, taught me this recipe. I used to make this with her and my mother as a child. It is my very favorite dessert. It is incredibly easy to make, and even easier to eat. My favorite part of making this as a child was dusting every bar generously with snowy white powdered sugar. My favorite version of this dessert uses canned blueberry pie filling; I vastly prefer Libby brand over the store brand. You can make blueberry pie filling from scratch with sugar, cornstarch, bleberries, etc. but using the canned stuff is easy in a pinch and is much for nostalgic for me. Plus, I don’t notice a vast improvement over my homemade blueberry pie filling and the Libby brand; it just takes me longer to put this dessert together. I have been known to whip up a pan of these Friday night and have them disappear by Saturday afternoon. Be warned, these things are addictive! Ingredients: 3 cups of all-purpose flour 2 cups of granulated sugar 4 eggs 2 sticks of

Samosas with Yogurt Sauce

I love exploring many kinds of cuisine in my kitchen because I can control the spice level, and in the case of this recipe, the use of cilantro. Cilantro lovers out there- sub it info the parsley here. I have the gene that makes cilantro taste like soap, which limits my ability to enjoy some dishes in restaurants, but is easily rectified in my own kitchen. I hope you enjoy! Ingredients: 3 russet potatoes 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped 2 teaspoons curry powder 5 ounces peas Six 8 inch flour tortillas 4 ounces Greek yogurt Oil, salt, pepper, vinegar 4 tablespoons butter Method: Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly oil a rimmed baking sheet. Scrub potatoes and cut into 1⁄2-inch pieces. Place in a large saucepan with a generous pinch of salt and enough water to cover by 1 inch. Cover and bring to a boil over high; uncover and cook until tenderDrain potatoes and transfer to a bowl. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in reserved saucepan over medium. Add chopped garlic and al

Watership Down Kitchen

Search This Blog