Sweet Potato Gnocchi

I use farro flour, because it's lighter in texture than whole wheat and is even better for you. To find out why click here. It may not be easy to find in a store. You can order it online here or substitute with wheat or spelt. Traditional gnocchi uses white potatoes, but I use sweet potatoes, as they are loaded with vitamins and they help balance your blood sugar. Don't worry, they are nothing like the marshmallow topped sweet potato casserole you see at Thanksgiving! Made right, they are pillow-y little dumplings that are wonderful served with Bolognese sauce. And they only have 3 ingredients to boot.

1 lb. sweet potatoes
1 -2 cups flour farro flour (whole wheat pastry, white whole wheat, or whole spelt work)
Pinch of salt

Bake sweet potatoes at 400 degrees in their skin until soft (35-40 minutes). Remove the skins and mash with a fork or process the flesh in a food processer until all the lumps are gone. Mix the sweet potatoes, salt and ½ cup flour in a bowl. Flour the counter top with at least another ½ cup flour and dump the sweet potato mixture on top. Sprinkle liberally with more flour. Start to work in the flour by kneading and continue adding flour until you get a soft dough. The goal is to use as little flour as possible but still have dough that you are able to roll out. Too much flour will produce a dense, chewy gnocchi, but too little flour will not hold together when boiled. To test the consistency, pinch a little piece of dough off and roll into a ball. Boil it to determine if you need any more flour. If it falls apart, add flour. If it’s too dense, add an egg to the dough.

Divide the dough into several balls and roll each one out to form a long rope (about the width of your thumb). I find it easier to work with smaller pieces at a time. Cut into 3/4 inch pieces. Flour a large baking sheet so you have somewhere to stage your gnocchi before cooking. Next you add notches to each piece so the sauce has something to grab on to. You can do this two different ways: (1) Roll each piece along the back of a fork so there are grooves or (2) poke two sides of each gnocchi long ways with the end of a fork (not the end with the prongs). As you notch each piece, place them on the floured pan without touching each other. Once all pieces are ready, you are ready to boil. You want to do this in batches (maybe 3-4 batches for this size of recipe) so the gnocchi have plenty of room and do not stick together. Drop the gnocchi into salted, boiling water one at a time (carefully, because they will splatter hot water). Once they are all in for that batch, give it a quick stir with a large slotted spoon to get it off of the bottom of the pot. They will float to the top after 2-3 minutes. Once they float to the top, continue to boil for appx. 1 more minute. Remove with the slotted spoon into a serving bowl. Repeat until all gnocchi are cooked. Toss with salt and pepper and a little olive oil. Serve with bolognese sauce.

Other fun gnocchi ideas:

• Add any fresh herb to the dough before rolling it out. Thyme or sage would go nice.
• Freeze them! After you have notched them but before you boil them, arrange them on the cookie sheet dusted with flour. Put the sheet in the freezer (make sure they are not touching each other) until frozen. Put them in a ziplock back. You want to make sure and freeze them individually, so they do not stick together. When you are ready to cook them, just drop them into the boiling water straight from the freezer. Do not thaw them first. Otherwise, you will end up with a mushy mess.
• Crispy gnocchi - After boiling, pan sear in skillet with oil or clarified butter until lightly browned. Serve with tomato sauce or toss with fresh herbs and parmesan cheese.
• Crisp finely chopped pancetta or bacon in pan. When finished cooking, add gnocchi and toss. Serve with parmesan or gorganzola cheese.
• Gnocchi Soup - In a large pot, saute an onion plus any other vegetables you want (green beans, carrots, celery, bell peppers - any or all of this would be good). Add about 2 quarts of chicken stock (preferrable homemade) and bring to a boil. Add the gnocchi and cook as you would in water. Do not remove them, though. When they are done, just remove from heat and add fresh herbs, salt and pepper.