Sweet Potato Gnocchi in a Butter Sage Sauce

It's not often that I pull a recipe, follow the instructions & end up with the mess I ended up with this night... but what fun would a blog be if I only put the good things in it?


This is the Sweet Potato Gnocchi I made this weekend; I couldn't have been more excited for this! Sweet Potatoes, Sage Butter Sauce?! Gnocchi! What could possibly be better?!!! I was pretty sorely disappointed.

At first everything looked pretty promising! The gnocchi dough, though much more sticky than anything I had ever worked with, rolled out ok, smelled great and actually looked like gnocchi (once I figured out the rolling over the fork thing)  The only changes made were substituting, whole milk ricotta for part skim ricotta (which is what I always have on hand) and white flour for whole wheat flour... I read online in a review of the recipe that the ricotta should have been drained to reduce the moisture.. not sure how much that would have helped.

I noticed I might be in trouble at the cooking stage... boiling them did nothing to firm up the dough at all. The butter sauce (which smelled AMAZING) gave them a pretty shine, so I sucked it up, put them in a bowl and served them to my family.

My biggest gripe is that the taste is just not there, I barely get a hint of sweet potato, but they're 80% made out of them! boo... the sauce didn't help much. Overall, just disappointing. Edible.. but not enjoyable.

Here's the recipe...

Ingredients

For the Gnocchi:
2 pounds sweet potatoes
2/3 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus 1/3 cup for the work surface

For the Maple Cinnamon Sage Brown Butter:
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
20 fresh sage leaves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

For the Gnocchi: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Pierce the sweet potato with a fork. Bake the sweet potatoes until tender and fully cooked, between 40 to 55 minutes depending on size. Cool slightly. Cut in half and scoop the flesh into a large bowl. Mash the sweet potatoes and transfer to a large measuring cup to make sure the sweet potatoes measure about 2 cups. Transfer the mashed sweet potatoes back to the large bowl. Add the ricotta cheese, salt, cinnamon, and pepper and blend until well mixed. Add the flour, 1/2 cup at a time until a soft dough forms. Lightly flour a work surface and place the dough in a ball on the work surface. Divide the dough into 6 equal balls. Roll out each ball into a 1-inch wide rope. Cut each rope into 1-inch pieces. Roll the gnocchi over the tines of a fork. Transfer the formed gnocchi to a large baking sheet. Continue with the remaining gnocchi.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the gnocchi in 3 batches and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 5 to 6 minutes. Drain the gnocchi using a slotted spoon onto a baking sheet. Tent with foil to keep warm and continue with the remaining gnocchi.

For the Brown Butter sauce: While the gnocchi are cooking melt the butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted add the sage leaves. Continue to cook, swirling the butter occasionally, until the foam subsides and the milk solids begin to brown. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the cinnamon, maple syrup, salt, and pepper. Careful, the mixture will bubble up. Gently stir the mixture. When the bubbles subside, toss the cooked gnocchi in the brown butter. Transfer the gnocchi to a serving dish and serve immediately