Sweet Potato Gnocchi With Brown Butter And Sage

Homemade sweet potato gnocchi with brown butter and sage. Once you made your first homemade gnocchi you will never go back to store bought gnocchi again! This recipe makes light, pillowy gnocchi tossed in a delicious nutty brown butter sauce topped off with crispy sage.

While making your own pasta may seem like a daunting task, let me assure you that it is a simple process that is totally worth it. No matter what kind of pasta you want to make, the fresh one is always better than the store-bought one.

The inspiration

During my childhood we spent some time in Italy. I can especially remember our Italy holidays 10 years ago. We stayed in Italy for several weeks visiting different cities. For dinner we always went to a local “Grotto” where I ordered gnocchi with melted butter and sage nearly every single time. This year I wanted to switch things up and elevate this traditional, rustic recipe to a dish that will blow your mind!

What are gnocchi?

Gnocchi are an Italian pasta. The classic version is made out of potatoes. For the dough you mix mashed potatoes, flour and eggs. There are many new versions out there with sweet potato, ricotta, cauliflower, etc.

When it comes to sauces you have a ton to choose from. During my trips to Italy most restaurants served them with melted butter and sage. Thick sauces like a tomato sugo, a vegetable sauce or a cheesy sauce. My dad especially loves a gorgonzola sauce.

Now lets talk about this Sweet Potato Gnocchi With Brown Butter And Sage Recipe

By hand or with the kitchen aid?

This recipe can be made with a kitchen aid or by hand. I personally prefer doing it by hand as you can feel the dough and that way can feel when you should stop and wont over knead the dough. Also I find kneading a dough by hand suuuper therapeutic.

Ingredients

For the gnocchi:

• Sweet potatos
• Eggs
• Flour

As sweet potatoes come in many different sizes I gave you a specific measurement and not an amount of potatoes in this recipe. Try to get near that number, it doesn’t have to be exact.

My ground rule is to always use 2 eggs. Never more or less. I have learnt that from a friend that lived in Italy for some time.

For my gnocchi I use all purpose flour or spelt flour, both have worked for me. I did not test any other flours.

For the brown butter and sage sauce:

• Butter
• Sage

The nutty flavor of the brown butter matches perfectly with the sweet and earthy sweet potato gnocchi. The sage rounds up the dish and brings some crunch into itas we throw it into the hot butter and fry it a bit.

How to make homemade sweet potato gnocchi with brown butter and sage?

Make the sweet potato gnocchi dough:

The dough only needs 3 ingredients and is pretty simple to make. All you need is having a good feel for the dough in order to stop in time and not over knead it.

First you will have to bake the sweet potatoes. Preheat the oven to 180 C° / 360 F. With a fork poke holes into the sweet potatoes. This helps it bake trough better. Depending on how big your sweet potatoes are they may need longer or less long in the oven. I normally start at 20 minutes and keep checking with a fork until their nice and soft and you have no more resistance. When tender let them cool and then peel off the skin.

Next you have to mash the potatoes till nice and smooth. You can use a potato masher or a potato ricer. If you don’t have any of those you can use a fork as alternative, it will need much longer to get mashed tough.

Knead in the kitchen machine:

Add the mashed potatoes and 2 eggs to the bowl and mix. Use a dough hook and slowly start adding the flour while mixing. The recipe says 1kg / 8 cups of flour. However, we will start with 600g / 4 ¾ cups and slowly start adding more. The key to fluffy gnocchi is to not add to much flour and not over knead it. Make sure you keep testing the dough and add more flour if needed. The dough is ready when it is nice and soft, still feels sticky when touching but won’t stick to your hand anymore. Once you have the right consistency stop mixing! We don’t want to overdo it. Form a ball, put it into a bowl and let it rest for at least half an hour.

Hand kneading:

On a clean surface form a little hill with the mashed potatoes and make a hole in the middle. Add the 2 eggs into the formed hole and whisk them with a fork. Next start adding the flour into the middle. Here we also start with 600g / 4¾ cups flour. Slowly start incorporating all the ingredients together until you start to get a doughy consistency. Then start kneading the dough. You might want to cover your hands in some flour in the beginning to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands. Start adding more flour if needed. Once you have a nice soft dough that is still a bit sticky to your touch but won’t stick on your hand anymore when you knead it you can stop kneading. Form a ball, put it into a bowl and let it rest for at least half an hour.

Form the gnocchi:

Using a dough scraper cut the dough into 8 pieces. On a floured surface start rolling each piece out into a sausage until its as tick as your thumb.

Cut the rolled out dough into 2cm / 0.8inch pieces and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Make sure you cover the pieces in some flour so the gnocchi won’t stick to each other. Keep on doing that till all the dough is used up. You can make them look pretty by rolling them over the back of a fork or by using a gnocchi paddle (like this one: Amazon.com: Yueshico Natural Gnocchi Boards Paddle – Beechwood Quick Gnocchi Stripper and Paddle Easily Create Authentic Homemade Pasta and Butter Without Sticking: Kitchen & Dining).

Fill a big pot with water and add some salt. Start bringing the water to a boil. While it’s on the stove start making the sauce.

How to make brown butter:

In a small pan melt the butter on medium heat. Make sure you use a light colored pan so you can see when the butter is ready. While melting make sure you keep stirring the butter so it doesn’t burn. Once the butter starts to turn light brown and has a nutty smell, remove the pan from the heat. Instantly throw the sage in and stir gently. The butter is still hot and will make the sage slightly crispy.

Cook the gnocchi and assemble:

When the water boils turn down the heat to medium and start adding your gnocchi. Once the gnocchi swim up to the surface you can remove them. Use a spoon with holes in it to make it easier. Add them right into the bowls you’ll serve the gnocchi in or put them in a big bowl and keep adding some butter so they won’t stick to each other.

Now add the brown butter and sage to the gnocchi and serve.

ENJOY!

Storage

This recipes makes enough for about 6 people. If you need less I highly recommend still making the same amount but storing the rest of the gnocchi. This will ensure that the recipe will turn out good,

To store the gnocchi you simply follow all the steps till you have your gnocchi all formed. Now you have to make sure they all all covered nicely in flour. Keep them on a baking sheet for a few hours and let them dry a bit. When you touch them they will feel like they hardened up on the outside. Once they are dry on the outside and don’t stick to each other anymore you can add them all into a zip block bag or even vacuum-seal them and put them into your freezer.