sweet potato gnocchi

light fluffy little pillows

A lot of my food inspiration comes from my childhood. There's a certain nostalgic feeling that I get whenever I eat meals that my parents used to make. Two nights ago I made homemade orange chicken, just like my mom used to make. I remember it being one of my favorites and asking for it on my birthday for my "birthday dinner." Making it now, the flavors instantly brought me back. Another one of those dishes that I remember is gnocchi. My dad cooked a lot and always made something unique. I remember being very young and watching my dad make these little pasta pillows out of potatoes. They were so light, squishy and very delicious. I remember talking to my husband about gnocchi and he had never tried it nor heard of it. Obviously, I had to find a recipe and make it for him. 

the potatoes

After browsing Pinterest, I found this recipe for homemade gnocchi with a little twist. They were made from sweet potatoes and regular potatoes and served with a sage, shallot, brown butter and balsamic vinegar sauce. If you want to try this out, click the link for the recipe I used.

mix it all up

I baked the potatoes and mixed them with egg, cheese and some honey for sweetness. The recipe then says to add flour 1/2 cup at a time until you reach the right consistency. As I'm adding the flour, bit by bit, my dad's voice popped into my head "too much flour makes for a heavy gnocchi." It's random things like this that I learned growing up. It made me laugh to think that this little tip would be something I could write if I had to make a list of things my dad taught me. 

cutting the gnocchi

After you get that perfect dough, you need to roll it out into little ropes and cut them into perfect little gnocchi. I used a pizza cutter and it worked very well. Just make sure you have flour sprinkled on your work surface so they don't stick. After they're cut, you'll need to make the sauce. You cook up some sage, shallots and brown the butter. Add in the balsamic vinegar and the cooked gnocchi until you get a nice coating of sauce. Serve with the fried sage leaves and sprinkle a little fresh parmesan and cracked black pepper on top. 

delicious fluffy perfection