I’m always curious to know what people shop for in a supermarket and why? What one person considers a staple, another considers a rare occasion treat. I remember being 13 years old, being at a friend’s house, and they had an enormous, family-sized bag of M&Ms in the pantry… 2 hours later, they didn’t, because I had managed to polish off the vast majority of the bag – I was both permanently hungry and had a much faster metabolism as a teenager. Sadly, only one of those things has changed… but I digress…
The reason for my voracious and greedy appetite was the fact that a bag of M&Ms never entered my own pantry. This was a treat and luxury that I could never have dreamed of – candy, open and available at a moment’s notice – and the cunning little imp in me couldn’t pass up the opportunity to over-indulge.
15 years later and I marvel at what others keep in their pantries, and have no doubt that my own shopping habits raise a few eyebrows. I was walking through the grocery store last week, passed a display of Parmesan Cheese, and mindlessly picked one up, as it is a critical staple in my household. It wasn’t until PT looked into my cheese drawer and pointed out that I had 7 different cheeses in there that it occurred to me that I may be deeply strange in this particular respect… possibly in others, but we’re talking about cheese right now.
I have two bricks of Parmesan, an aged Gouda, Mahon, Emmenthaler, Gruyere, and two aged Cheddars. That’s normal, right?
They make a great snack, and they’re awesome when you have to whip up something comforting and cheesy in a pinch, like a Sweet Grilled Cheese, Aglio e Olio, or Sweet Potato Gnocchi, which is just little bundles of amazing deliciousness.
I was a little intimidated when I first decided to make these little orange-jeweled gnocchi, but it turned out to be far easier than some of the more ambitious doughy items I’ve attempted (ahem, pie crust – not easy when you have less than 2 square feet of counter space), and it’s instantly impressive when you tell people that you made your own pasta.
Toss these in a little brown butter with thyme and serve with a big salad or hearty winter vegetables for a delicious mid-week dinner.
Enjoy!
Click here for a printable version of the recipe
Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Brown Butter Thyme Sauce, Serves 4
Adapted from East Village Kitchen
Prep Time: 1 Hour
Total Prep Time: 1 Hour
Ingredients:
For the Gnocchi:
1 1lb. Yam
6oz. Ricotta Cheese
½ Cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
1 Tbls. Brown Sugar
1 Tsp. Salt
1/2 Tsp. Nutmeg
1 1/3 Cup Flour
For the Browned Butter Thyme Sauce:
½ Cup Butter
3 Tsp. Thyme, chopped
Salt & Pepper to taste
Preparation:
Prepare the yam by placing it in a large pot filled with cold salt water; bring the water to boil with the yam inside and allow to boil for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, remove the yam and allow to cool until just warm to the touch and set the boiled water aside.
Scrape the yam flesh into a large bowl and add the ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, nutmeg, salt, brown sugar, combine well with a fork.
Add the flour, ½ cup at a time and blend until the mixture is soft and dough-like.
Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface, and, slowly rock the dock back and forth between the the bottom of your palms and heels of your hand. You’ll see it slowly start to elongate and become rope-like. As much as possible, focus on any areas of the dough that are remaining thick and try to get the rope’s width as even as possible.
With a sharp knife, cut off 1-inch pieces of the dough and set aside on a lined cookie sheet. I’m boring, and leave my little gnocchi unadorned, but you can feel free to mark with an insignia (fork tines, back of spoon, a personal stamp, etc.)
Bring the pot of yammy water to boil again, add a bit more salt, and toss the gnocchi in in batches – just be sure not to crowd the pot, and cook for 5-6 minutes.
Remove from the pot with a slotted spoon, place in a bowl and cover with tin foil to keep warm.
Meanwhile, get on making your brown butter sauce by heating the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat for 5 minutes, until it starts to bubble and turn brown. Skim some of the bubbles off of the butter and add the thyme (be careful, it will crackle and pop!). Turn the heat down to the lowest setting, just to keep warm while you cook the rest of your gnocchi.
Once all of the gnocchi are cooked, toss in with the brown butter sauce, mix around, plate, serve, and enjoy!
I had sweet potato gnocchi last night, but this looks way better! Yum!!!
These look lovely!!! My one gnocchi attempt was not successful, so I shall endeavor to remedy that in the New Year.
Even though to me it seems unlikely, we have so much in common. I roll my cart through grocery stores wondering what the kitchens the food in the various carts will land in are like. I have to sit on my hands when visiting to maintain my host’s kitchen privacy. I too have so many different cheeses, that little drawer in my fridge is chock-a-block (not a smidgen of space). I have to re-jigger every so often to see what I’ve forgotten that’s been pushed to the back. My Mom thinks I’m from another planet… this is one of the reasons.
I made this gnocchi last nite. My husband of 18 years proclaimed his undying love for me shortly after dinner — it was that delicious! I have to admit I’m not that good with dough. I don’t know enough about it and shy away. This took me way longer than an hour — probably because it was my first time through and my dough-anxiety. The instructions were very clear and I followed easily. However, I think I had too much yam (story of my life). I weighed them pre-cooking and I had approx 5 ozs. over the lb. required, but figured I would loose some weight with the skins off and bits that become flotsom during the boiling process. So I went ahead. When I got to the rolling between my hands, the snake-y ropes just broke to bits. Because of my dough-ignorance, I didn’t want to add more flour and do more harm than good, so I ended up rolling them on the board, like a cigar (after fretting and cursing awhile). Once I figured this out I was off to the races. I put them in the fridge to firm up before dropping them in the boiling yam-water. I was afraid they would disintegrate without the extra cooling time (maybe that was just paranoia). Dropping the thyme in the brown butter was so FUN! Like fourth of July!
I served with baby arugula dressed in a simple tangy lemony vinaigrette and ciabatta rolls I made a few days ago. The acid of the vinegar, balanced the sweet, richness of the gnocchi. I’m keeping this recipe for special occasions when I want to impress. I wonder if you can make the full recipe and freeze part before boiling? We had lots of left overs and I don’t know how well they’ll do a second time out.
Hi Jeanne,
I’m so glad that you (and your husband) enjoyed the recipe! In fact, I did refrigerate (or you could freeze) the gnocchi dough before boiling, and it works perfectly well – it’s essentially the same as the fresh pasta you would buy in the store.
5lbs. of yams would make a tough dough to work with – you don’t need quite that much, and once the quantities are more balanced, you should have an easier time working with the dough. Good luck!