Sweet Potato Gnocchi
Welcome to Gnocchi 101. Before we do anything, we’re going to nail the pronunciation of what we’re making. Gnocchi: say the word ‘lasagne’ out loud. Isolate the ‘gn’ sound. Combine it with an o, like the ‘o’ in ‘lost’, and add a key. Ñóqui, nh-o-key, gnocchi - ben fatto! Now, there’s a knack to gnocchi and I’m here to help you master it. I’m not an Italian nonna, I’m not Italian at all for that matter. But from doing lots of research on how to get the best gnocchi and lots of practice, it always comes out deliciously. It usually takes me just under an hour from complete start to finish. I’m going to teach you the skill of making this by eye, what to look out for and how to know when it’s ready so you can make it with any quantities you’ve got. If you prefer to accompany the method visually, there’s a step-by-step on my TikTok. A summary of the process: steam it, peel it, squeeze it. Flour it, roll it, gnocchi it. Boil it, butter it, enjoy it - buon appetito! 🇮🇹
Song suggestions:
That’s Amore - Dean Martin
C’est Magnifique - Melody Gardot
Top tips:
If you’re baking your potato in the oven, bake it on a bed of rock salt to draw out any extra moisture.
If you’re steaming your potato, let it sit for 5 minutes once you’ve taken the basket out onto the side. The steam is boiling hot and can burn the tips of your fingers if you try and peel it straight away, so spread them out to cool as quickly as possible and once cool-ish you can peel them.
When rolling your gnocchi, it’s easier to roll if you have the dry edges of the dough parallel with the top and bottom of the fork, and the exposed sticky sides facing outwards towards the edges of the fork.
Also when rolling, if you notice the dough is still too sticky, place a little pile of plain flour on the side of your chopping board and lightly dust the pieces of gnocchi in it just before you roll it.
Ingredients:
2 small sweet potatoes
Plain white flour
Recipe:
Steam or bake (without any oil) some unpeeled, diced sweet potato until soft. Don’t boil it - it will add too much moisture to your dough and it won’t come together. The reason you also need the skin on is because it acts as an extra moisture barrier to the potato.
Once soft enough to mash, drain the pan and peel the skins off the pieces. They’ll come off really easily.
Using a clean tea-towel, place the steamed potato pieces in the centre, fold up the corners and over the sink squeeze out as much extra liquid as you can.
Take the potato out from the towel and lay it on a chopping board. Using a fork, mash out last pieces.
Start adding your flour by the tablespoon. For about 200 odd grams of potato, it should take about 3 to 4 tbsp flour to bring the dough together. Bring it together without overwork it (don’t properly knead it), as this will make tough/chewy gnocchi. Just gently bring it all together until you have a floury ball of dough. Flour it until the dough is no longer sticky and is rollable.
Cut your ball of dough in half and roll it out into a floured surface, into a long sausage looking thing. With a knife, chop every centimetre or so.
Grab a fork and pick up a piece of dough. Using your thumb, push the dough down the prongs of the fork to roll it into shape. Repeat until all pieces are done.
Once all rolled, place in a pan of salted, boiling water. Boil until the gnocchi floats. I forgot to take a photo of this step, so have one of the empty pan instead… I’m sure you know what boiling pasta looks like anyway!
Finally, transfer into a frying pan with some melted butter and toss until completely coated and soft. Add a generous amount of fresh parsley, toss for a couple more minutes and serve.
A Bite Out of Life
Recipe writing over the years has changed a great deal, not just in terms of their content (so the ingredients available to us and the way we make use of those ingredients) but also the way in which we record them. My grandma’s recipes, pictures first below, were recorded in a combination of ways: she’d write them into pages of recipe books she owned and write her own recipes on pieces of paper to slot them into recipe books. I found out recently my Mum had a very similar system to me (the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree): she kept a hand-written, neatly organised notebook of recipes to pull out on demand. These are the recipes she cooked for our family growing up and are predominantly Portuguese cuisine related. My method of recipe writing was the same - I also kept a hand-written, neat collection of my favourite recipes however this pleasantly evolved into an even neater, not hand-written collection of recipes… who knows where the line will end! Watch this space…
