Sorry for the lack of posting yesterday, but we went on a whirlwind trip to Houston this past weekend that was jam packed full of wedding-ness, photo shoots, birthday parties, late night trips to get two cars un-towed, cake pops, and DIY projects. Needless to say, yesterday was needed to recover. So! To make up for it I will share with you the greatest recipe anyone can make. And it’s oh so good too. I made this recipe originally with butternut squash, but then tried it again with sweet potatoes, and I definitely prefer the sweet potatoes, I feel like they give it more flavor. [Derek thinks they taste the same] so it’s really up to you!

Disclaimer: this batch was made in the middle of my stenciling excursion which is why my nails are chipped to pieces and some nails are black. NBD. Let’s just pretend I have a beautiful manicure, and we’ll move on.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

You will need:

1 cup sweet potatoes [or butternut squash] peeled and cooked
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp salt

Step One:

In a large mixing bowl toss in all of your ingredients and mix until combined.

Step Two:

Gradually add no more than 2 cups of flower until your dough looks like this:

The dough will still be sticky, but you want it at least manageable, so that you can roll it into tiny balls. The more flour you add though the heavier the pasta will be, so don’t go overboard.

Step Three:

At this point you can go ahead and start boiling about 6 cups of water because this next part will take a while. Lay out a piece of wax paper, always keep your hands covered in flour and begin to pinch off a small piece of dough. Roll it in your hands until it makes a 1″ ball. The more bite sized the better, and they will expand a little in the water. I prefer them smaller, but it’s totally up to you!

Step Four:

Keep repeating this step and lay out each ball onto your wax paper.

Step Five:

Once your wax paper is filled take each ball one at a time and stick your finger in one end and dent the other end with your fork. This helps to make the traditional gnocchi shape, and the dent will help hold more sauce. Yum!

Step Six:

After a ball has been poked and forked go ahead and drop it into your boiling water, then move onto the next ball. You don’t want to drop too many of them into the pot because they’ll stick together. Just put enough to cover the bottom. When you drop your gnocchi into the water it will sink to the bottom. As soon as it floats back up to the top it’s time to take it out! It’s so easy, you don’t even need a timer because the gnocchi practically jumps out of the water when it’s ready!

Step Seven:

Once all of your gnocchi has been cooked it’s ready to serve! You can top it off with any sauce of your choice. We prefer a nice tomato basil pasta sauce, but you can also use a cheese sauce, simple olive oil, or whatever you like!

It’s super easy to make, it just takes a little patience. This recipe serves 4, so we usually make it and then save the leftovers for lunch the next day, and I think it’s even better reheated!

Recipe derived from here.