I never had a lot of luck with potato or pumpkin gnocchi - the former often ending up a little too rubbery for my liking and the latter fall apart… This is a recipe I’ve had success with, it is an adaptation of Diana Chan’s sweet potato gnocchi with sage and gorgonzola.
This is a dish I like to prepare in full, but cook in batches so that everyone gets hot gnocchi that is crispy on the outside but pillowy soft on the inside. It’s a bit more fiddly, but worth it.
You will need:
1kg (2 medium) sweet potatoes
1 cup (240g) fresh ricotta
1 egg yolk
Half tsp ground nutmeg
1.5 tsp salt flakes
1.25 cups (185g) plain flour, plus extra to dust
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
150g unsalted butter, chopped
Half bunch sage, leaves picked
Quarter to half cup pine nuts, depending on taste
Crumbled gorgonzola, to serve or parmesan if you prefer
Cut the sweet potato in half length ways and steam or microwave until cooked through. Scoop out the insides, discard the skin. In a large bowl, add the ricotta (I like to use the ricotta from the deli as I find it has more texture than those in the small tubs), egg, nutmeg and 11/2 tsp salt flakes, and stir until well combined. Add the flour in three batches, kneading between each one, to form a soft dough.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and divide into 6 equal parts. Roll each into a 2cm-thick sausage, then cut into pillows - about 2.5cm long. Transfer to a tray lightly dusted with flour but be sure not to stack them.
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and be ready to cook gnocchi in single serve batches for around 3 minutes, being careful not to overcrowd the saucepan, until the gnocchi floats to the surface. Using a slotted spoon, remove the gnocchi gently and transfer to your pan with the sage butter.
Make the sage brown butter by melting butter in a large frypan over medium heat. Add sage and pinenuts and cook, stirring occasionally, for around 2 minutes. Remove sage with tongs as it turns dark green and drain on paper towel, then add this back on top of the plated dish.
Add your cooked gnocchi to the hot butter and fry for 1 minute or until warmed through and some caramelisation occurs.
Transfer to a serving plate, top with the crispy fried sage and either parmesan or gorgonzola.
