For this sweet potato gnocchi recipe, you’ll need just two ingredients

Sweet potato gnocchi is a great healthy recipe to impress your guests, or if you have a lazy afternoon planned in which to spend in the kitchen lovingly preparing a meal from scratch. Gnocchi (a fancy pasta if you ask me) is an incredibly simple and comforting dish. It is so filling, with a little going a long way. What I like most about gnocchi is the versatility of flavours you can pair with it, you can absolutely experiment with this dish to your preference.

You may already have these relatively inexpensive  ingredients to hand:

Ingredients (4 servings):

• 300g Sweet potato
• 350g Plain flour (I use gluten free)

Sweet potato is a powerhouse antioxidant and adds a micronutrient boost to the recipe, rich in vitamin A, C and E and contains potassium and manganese. It’s also rich in fibre making it a preferable option to it’s white counterpart.

You can of course replace sweet potato with regular white potato, or if you’re feeling creative, include a purple potato in the mix and produce a colourful dish of sweet potato and purple potato gnocchi! (if you do please send me a picture I’d love to see it). I also use gluten free plain flour, however if you prefer then regular plain flour can be used.

 

Method:

Firstly, pierce your sweet potatoes and place them on a baking tray and into the oven at gas mark 6 (200c) for 30 minutes or until completely soft. Allow the potatoes to cool for 10 minutes before scooping out the filling and place into a mixing bowl. Again, allow the filling to cool for a further 10-15 minutes and season generously with salt & pepper.

Once the filling has cooled to room temperature, it can then be mashed into a thick creamy consistency. Please do ensure the filling is completely free of lumps in order to create a smooth dough. If you have a potato ricer, then do use this for best results. I, however used a regular potato masher and then a fork to ensure any small lumps had been broken down.

Once you have a smooth potato paste, you can begin to add the flour gradually until a dough begins to form. You will be surprised at how much flour is required to form a dough so keep going until it forms.

Flour your board well and place your dough in the centre.

 

 

It is far easier to cut your dough into quarters and work in sections in order to create your gnocchi. Roll your sections into long strips (approximately an inch thick) and cut the strips into inch wide squares.

Use a fork to create grooves in your gnocchi pieces. These grooves will help to trap whatever ingredients you coat your pieces in when cooking. As you can see from the image below, each piece doesn’t have to look perfectly uniformed. In fact, imperfect sizes/shapes can make your gnocchi look lovingly home made (in my very professional opinion). Ensure you coat each piece in flour, this will help to stop them sticking together for the next step!

 

 

Once your gnocchi is formed, drop the pieces into a large pan of boiled and well salted water. You’ll know your gnocchi is ready once the pieces start rising to the surface. You can then scoop the pieces out and move them directly to your well-oiled frying pan for browning.

It can be quite the process (baking, boiling then frying) however this creates a fluffy moist inside and a crispy brown coating to each piece of gnocchi and let me tell you, it’s well worth the effort. If you wish to prepare your gnocchi the day before, you can do so. Follow each step to form your gnocchi pieces from the dough, flour each piece individually and store in an air tight container and place into the fridge. The next day you can then continue onto the next steps (boiling and then frying).

I then prepared a classic butter and sage gnocchi dish.

 

Ingredients (Serves 2):

• A generous handful of sage
• A knob of butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 chopped garlic clove
• 80g Mushrooms
• 80g Broccoli

 

 

Method:

Coat the frying pan with olive oil and throw in garlic, mushrooms and broccoli. After several minutes, add the freshly boiled and drained gnocchi to the pan, add butter and sage and fry for 5-10 minutes (or until the  gnocchi begins to brown).

It is then ready to serve. Season with salt & pepper and add an optional sprinkling of cheese (I use violife vegan mature cheddar).

You can of course experiment with sauces and flavours, a tomato basil sauce also works incredibly well with this dish.

Gnocchi can be stored (ready to be boiled fresh for best results) in the fridge for up to three days. If you decide to make a large batch of gnocchi, you can freeze a piece of dough in the freezer for up to a month, defrost and roll out the dough to form gnocchi when you’re ready. If you have the freezer space, this is a great option to save time and cut down the process when creating your future home made gnocchi dishes.

For more recipe ideas, take a look at my Instagram page.

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