Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Sage Butter

I recently purchased Chloe’s Kitchen, a cookbook by vegan chef Chloe Coscarelli mostly known for winning cupcake wars. It truly is a great cookbook to have, no matter what type of food you eat because everything I’ve made from it has been amazing. I had a few sweet potatoes in my pantry that were on their last legs unless I cooked them today. So I started searching through my things for a recipe to use for them. Low and behold this is the one I found. In Chloe’s original recipe she had it sweet with nutmeg in them, but I love my sweet potatoes savory so I added chipotle and garlic instead. I definitely recommend starting up your own herb garden because there is something great about going to your back yard for ingredients in your food. Don’t be intimidated by the sage either when its cooked in the butter sauce it becomes crunchy and even more flavorful. This is probably one of my favorite recipes I’ve made in a while and will be going in my regular arsenal of recipes. This makes almost 60 pillows of gnocchi I only cooked 20 and froze the rest. They should last about a month in the freezer and 3-4 days in the fridge.  

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Sage Butter

Serves 4

Ingredients:

·      2 large red- skinned sweet potatoes (2 pounds worth)

·      1 teaspoon kosher salt

·      1 teaspoon garlic powder

·      ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (plus extra for serving)

·      ¼ teaspoon Chipotle ground red (or cayenne)

·      2 ½ to 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling (I ended up using 3 cups)

·      ½ cup or 1 stick vegan butter (I used earth balance)

·      ½ cup Fresh Sage leaves 

Procedure:

1.    Preheat oven to 425°

2.    Pierce sweet potatoes with a fork, place on a baking pan with a wire rack, and bake for 50-60 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit until cool enough to handle.

3.    Using a sharp knife cut the potatoes in half lengthwise. Using a large spoon, scoop the flesh out of each sweet potato into a medium bowl. Thoroughly mash the sweet potatoes while they are still warm, then set aside or refrigerate to cool completely.

4.    Add salt, pepper, garlic, and chipotle to the sweet potatoes. Add flour ½ cup at a time mixing well with a spoon to combine. (I place my dough in a kitchen aid mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, but by hand is just fine too) Once a soft, slightly sticky, dough has formed, divide it into six equal portions (I used a scale just to get them as uniform as possible). Generously flour the work surface and your hands. Roll each portion of dough into ropes about ½ inch in diameter. Each rope will be 7 to 9 inches long. Dip a knife in four and cut each rope into 1-inch long pillows. If desired, roll each pillow with a fork to make decorative ridges. 

5.    Fill a medium saucepan with heavily salted water and bring it to a boil. In the meantime, heat the butter and sage in a large non-stick skillet until the butter begins to bubble. 

6.    When the water is boiling, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and gently drop in the gnocchi about 20 at a time. The gnocchi will float to the surface in about 4 minutes. Continue to cool about 30 seconds more. Using a slotted spoon, immediately transfer the gnocchi to the skillet or butter sauce. Let look turning frequently, for 1 to 2 minutes. You have to do this in several batched, until the gnocchi is all cooked. Serve immediately, topped with the addition ground black pepper. 

Enjoy