Gnocchin' on Heaven's Door

I have made a few different versions of gnocchi before but none have given me the same amount of pleasure as this amazing dish did. And not to sound vain, but I don't think that it was necessarily the recipe either. I think the success of my gnocchi had a lot to do with the fact that I cooked my sweet potato the night before and let it cool in my fridge overnight.

I don't know if that's true or not, but I do know that my dish tasted great and I didn't burn my hands while whipping it up. That makes it a winner in my books!

Today's recipe was inspired by one in April's Canadian Living, but I used quite a bit less flour in my dish and I think it helped to make the end result light and fluffy.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi - serves 6-8

2 cups cold cooked and puréed sweet potato, about 2-3 sweet potatoes
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
1 pinch nutmeg
2 cups or so flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, sliced
2 cups or so sliced mushrooms
1/2 head of garlic, minced
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
2 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese, grated for garnish

1. Start by making your gnocchi. Combine the sweet potato, egg, 1 teaspoon salt, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Then stir in about two cups of flour, the mixture should now pull away from the bowl but still be a little sticky.

2. Now flour your counter and spoon about 1/4 of your mixture on top of the flour. Roll the mixture with your hands to form a long log that's about 3/4 of an inch wide. Use a pastry scrapper or knife to cut small gnocchi about 3/4 inch long. Repeat until all of the sweet potato mixture is made into gnocchi.

3. Set a large pot of water on your stove to boil the gnocchi. Boil gnocchi in batches of about 10-15 for about 3 minutes each or until they begin to float.

4. While the water is coming to a boil, sauté the onion, garlic, and mushrooms in the olive oil. Cook until onion soften and mushrooms begin to brown. Add parsley and butter and season to taste with salt and pepper. 

5. Add gnocchi to the mushroom mixture and toss to combine. 

6. Serve with a dusting of Parmesan cheese and enjoy. 

I chose to freeze half of my gnocchi. I lined a cookie tray with parchment paper and placed half of my gnocchi in an even layer and froze them before putting them in a Tupperware for easy storage. I kept my ratio of mushrooms and onions the same because I love a little extra veggie, but you could half it if you like.