There's a real satisfaction that comes with making your own pasta. It can't be described, but if you know then you know. However when it comes to GF pasta aint nobody got time for that! That's why I started thinking of gnocchi!
For those that have yet to come across these little pillows of joy, gnocchi are small italian dumplings, usually made from potato and flour. As the potato is usually the main ingredient I thought this would be a great GF alternative to normal pasta. I then decided to go one step further and switch out regular potato for sweet potato. Why? Mainly because I'm addicted to sweet potato but also because its more nutritionally dense and has a better flavour to it - in my opinion of course!
Wait! Before we go on let's go back to the nutrition comment for a sec. Don't worry I'm not suddenly a health freak that's gonna preach healthy choices or swaps to you. However in places that it can actually enhance or switch up a dish (in a good way) I'm all for the healthy route!
Moving swiftly on, once I had decided to make sweet potato gnocchi I started researching recipes. Usually I would just throw a load of things in a bowl that should work and 90% of the time it actually does! However pasta making is similar to baking in the way that it is a science and thus needs some recipe guidance. After scanning through loads of recipes I came across a 3 ingredient gnocchi and more complex variety both of which majorly appealed. I knew gnocchi was only meant to have few ingredients but I was intrigued to see how the two compared against each other and also how GF flour would affect the dough as one of recipe called for GF flour but one did not and obviously I was on a GF mission!
So the simple recipe just combines baked and blended sweet potato with flour and salt - simples! The second combines the sweet potato with ricotta, parmesan, egg, flour and seasonings. The verdict? Although I thoroughly enjoyed both I think I prefer the more complex option (typical me choosing the harder one!) had a better consistency and was less dense. However if I was craving gnocchi on a weeknight with little time to spare I would deff go for the 3 ingredient one, was way simpler and still tasty.
Obviously in my typical hangry girl way I've slightly amended the recipes from the original, making sure that they are both GF and that the complex one is cows milk free. If you are vegan or fully unable to have dairy products go for the 3 ingredient gnocchi. You can also switch up whatever sauce you want, I did one with homemade pesto and you can find the recipe on my peaz pasta review the other I made a simple brown butter sauce whereby you melt butter in a pan until it starts foaming and turns browned. This gives the butter a saltier and nuttier flavour which really goes with the gnocchi. I topped it with a sage and pine nut crumb to add some texture as gnocchi is quite soft and it is a good contrast. I did this by toasting some panko breadcrumbs with garlic oil and adding it to chopped, toasted pine nuts and pan fried sage! I also recommend a simple tomato sauce or mushrooms and truffles (ooh so yum!!). They are a great base for really any pasta dish!!
Anyways here are the recipes, the quantities are hard to gauge as each sweet potato is different sized and they shrink when baked etc. However if your dough is too soft then just add some more flour, it will still turn out good! You never want the dough to be sticky otherwise it'll loose its shape and also when you go to boil it they will get stuck together!!
Simple 3 Ingredient Sweet Potato Gnocchi (with brow butter sauce and sage and pine nut crumb) makes 2 portions:
Ingredients
2 Sweet Potatoes, baked for about an hour or until soft
2 cups GF flour
Salt and Pepper
More Complicated Gnocchi (with pesto & pecorino) makes 2 portions:
Ingredients
2 Sweet Potatoes, baked for about an hour or until soft
For those that have yet to come across these little pillows of joy, gnocchi are small italian dumplings, usually made from potato and flour. As the potato is usually the main ingredient I thought this would be a great GF alternative to normal pasta. I then decided to go one step further and switch out regular potato for sweet potato. Why? Mainly because I'm addicted to sweet potato but also because its more nutritionally dense and has a better flavour to it - in my opinion of course!
Wait! Before we go on let's go back to the nutrition comment for a sec. Don't worry I'm not suddenly a health freak that's gonna preach healthy choices or swaps to you. However in places that it can actually enhance or switch up a dish (in a good way) I'm all for the healthy route!
Moving swiftly on, once I had decided to make sweet potato gnocchi I started researching recipes. Usually I would just throw a load of things in a bowl that should work and 90% of the time it actually does! However pasta making is similar to baking in the way that it is a science and thus needs some recipe guidance. After scanning through loads of recipes I came across a 3 ingredient gnocchi and more complex variety both of which majorly appealed. I knew gnocchi was only meant to have few ingredients but I was intrigued to see how the two compared against each other and also how GF flour would affect the dough as one of recipe called for GF flour but one did not and obviously I was on a GF mission!
So the simple recipe just combines baked and blended sweet potato with flour and salt - simples! The second combines the sweet potato with ricotta, parmesan, egg, flour and seasonings. The verdict? Although I thoroughly enjoyed both I think I prefer the more complex option (typical me choosing the harder one!) had a better consistency and was less dense. However if I was craving gnocchi on a weeknight with little time to spare I would deff go for the 3 ingredient one, was way simpler and still tasty.
Obviously in my typical hangry girl way I've slightly amended the recipes from the original, making sure that they are both GF and that the complex one is cows milk free. If you are vegan or fully unable to have dairy products go for the 3 ingredient gnocchi. You can also switch up whatever sauce you want, I did one with homemade pesto and you can find the recipe on my peaz pasta review the other I made a simple brown butter sauce whereby you melt butter in a pan until it starts foaming and turns browned. This gives the butter a saltier and nuttier flavour which really goes with the gnocchi. I topped it with a sage and pine nut crumb to add some texture as gnocchi is quite soft and it is a good contrast. I did this by toasting some panko breadcrumbs with garlic oil and adding it to chopped, toasted pine nuts and pan fried sage! I also recommend a simple tomato sauce or mushrooms and truffles (ooh so yum!!). They are a great base for really any pasta dish!!
Anyways here are the recipes, the quantities are hard to gauge as each sweet potato is different sized and they shrink when baked etc. However if your dough is too soft then just add some more flour, it will still turn out good! You never want the dough to be sticky otherwise it'll loose its shape and also when you go to boil it they will get stuck together!!
Simple 3 Ingredient Sweet Potato Gnocchi (with brow butter sauce and sage and pine nut crumb) makes 2 portions:
Ingredients
2 Sweet Potatoes, baked for about an hour or until soft
2 cups GF flour
Salt and Pepper
More Complicated Gnocchi (with pesto & pecorino) makes 2 portions:
Ingredients
2 Sweet Potatoes, baked for about an hour or until soft
1/4 cup ricotta
1/4 cup pecorino cheese, grated
2 1/2 cups GF flour
1 egg
Salt and Pepper
Method for both
Scoop the flesh from the potatoes into a blender and blend until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients into the blender and blend until smooth again. If your dough is too sticky add some flour until it reaches the right consistency. Split into 4 and roll out into long sausages. Using a knife cut the individual gnocchi, you want them about 1 inch long. If you want to make them look 'prettier' then using the back of a floured fork squish the dough into it until it rolls back on itself creating grooves. Boil in salted water for about 3 minutes or until the gnocchi float. Drain and serve as preferred!
Much Love
x
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