I did a lot of cooking this weekend– after housesitting for the parents for a week, it was good to get back into my little apt.  Yesterday I made crepes for breakfast…  mmmm! and then dinner was simple– grilled salmon, asparagus, and mushroom risotto.  I love that meal since it’s healthy, delicious, and I can get it done start to finish in 30 minutes.

My strategy for new dishes is to make only one at a time, and stick with tried-and-trues for the rest of the meal.  Today, my new dish was sweet potato gnocchi; such a yummy fall take on classic comfort food!  Sweet potatoes are a great source of beta carotene and Vitamin C, btw, so I like to substitute them for regular potatoes whenever possible.

I have to say, the gnocchi was quite a time-consuming project, but fun.  I used this recipe from epicurious, which is for a ricotta-based instead of egg-based gnocchi.  (For a great egg-based gnocci recipe, check out this one at 101cookbooks.)  Sorry in advance for the lack of plating pics– I forgot to break out the camera at the end, and only remembered when I started packing everything away!

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

Ingredients:

2 1-pound red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams), rinsed, patted dry, pierced all over with fork
1 12-ounce container fresh ricotta cheese, drained in sieve 2 hours
1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (about 3 ounces)
2 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar
2 teaspoons plus 2 tablespoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2 3/4 cups (about) all purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
6 tablespoons chopped fresh sage plus whole leaves for garnish

Preparation:

Line large baking sheet with parchment paper. Place sweet potatoes on plate; microwave on high until tender, about 5 minutes per side. Cut in half and cool. Scrape sweet potato flesh into medium bowl and mash; transfer 3 cups to large bowl. Add ricotta cheese; blend well. Add Parmesan cheese, brown sugar, 2 teaspoons salt, and nutmeg; mash to blend. Mix in flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, until soft dough forms.

Turn dough out onto floured surface; divide into 6 equal pieces. Rolling between palms and floured work surface, form each piece into 20-inch-long rope (about 1 inch in diameter), sprinkling with flour as needed if sticky. Cut each rope into 20 pieces. Roll each piece over tines of fork to indent. Transfer to baking sheet.

Bring large pot of water to boil; add 2 tablespoons salt and return to boil. Working in batches, boil gnocchi until tender, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer gnocchi to clean rimmed baking sheet. Cool completely. (Can be made 4 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.)

Preheat oven to 300°F. Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook until butter solids are brown and have toasty aroma, swirling pan occasionally, about 5 minutes.

Add chopped sage (mixture will bubble up). Turn off heat. Season sage butter generously with salt and pepper.

Transfer half of sage butter to large skillet set over medium-high heat. Add half of gnocchi. Sauté until gnocchi are heated through, about 6 minutes. Empty skillet onto rimmed baking sheet; place in oven to keep warm. Repeat with remaining sage butter and gnocchi.

Divide gnocchi and sauce among shallow bowls. Garnish with sage leaves.

gnocchi in progress

Gnocchi closeup

My notes/modifications: It took me about 3 lbs of sweet potatoes to get 3 cups mashed; I also omitted the brown sugar as the potatoes were pretty sweet on their own.  Instead of ricotta, I eliminated 50% of the calories and 75% of the fat by substituting low-fat cottage cheese (drained and run through the food processor), and it turned out just fine.

While the gnocchi took a while to dry out after boiling, I found that giving them that extra drying time made the sauteing process a lot quicker. Instead of sauteing in 1 cup (!) of butter, I used a mix of mostly olive oil (has a higher smoke point and therefore doesn’t burn as easily) plus a 1/4 tbsp of butter per batch for flavor.  Healthier, but still yummy.

Finished!

The end result was a sweet, light gnocchi– I liked the fall flavor, but it was a little too sweet for the BF’s taste. All in all, it was a fun experiment for a Sunday afternoon, but with a time requirement of a few hours, not something I’d add to my regular rotation.

Herbed pork roast

With the gnocchi, I did an herb-crusted pork loin roast, and sauteed yellow and green squash, both fairly simple dishes.  Yup, it’s a lot of food for only 2 people, but the leftovers are terrific– plus cooking once and eating multiple times is a great way to save time and money.

RTW tip: After you’re finished cooking, but before plating, pour a couple glasses of wine in nice stemware, and change into something cute and comfortable.  Your significant other or guests will definitely appreciate the extra polish, and why not highlight your ability to do it all?

Share your favorite fall recipes and tips for pulling it all together!