Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Wheat-Free Sweet Potato Gnocchi

I can't believe it's already December 1st! This year has gone by faster than ever, and I feel like I say that every year. It's just crazy. The fun thing about this holiday season is that it's our first holiday spent in our new house! Nick is like a child in that he can't wait to put lights up (we started last week) and buy a Christmas tree. We are actually buying our Christmas tree on Sunday, which is early because we usually buy it two weeks before Christmas. We're just really into the holidays this year (scratch that, HE'S into the holidays, I'm just soaking in that positive energy!). I have been heating cinnamon sticks and orange peels on the stove, and we even had our chimney cleaned out so we can start doing fires some nights. Ok, I'll admit, I'm into the holidays this year!

I already made plans with my mom to make our annual batch of chocolate waffle cones....



The Buckeyes already kicked some Michigan butt in the last scheduled game of the season...


And of course the holidays are impossible to escape when you work at one of the largest stores in town!!

And with the holidays comes cooking. Coco posted this sweet potato gnocchi a few months ago, and I finally got around to making it! This recipe was so simple. My favorite part about it was the short ingredient list;

Ingredients
(makes about 4 large servings)

2 large sweet potatoes

1 egg yolk

1/2 pound ricotta cheese (**I used reduced fat**)

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (** I used brown rice flour**)

2 tsp. salt



Directions

1. Cook the sweet potatoes either in the microwave or the oven (I chose the oven, 400 degrees for about 45 minutes)

2. Mash the sweet potatoes in a medium bowl

3. In a separate bowl, blend together the ricotta and the egg yolk

4. Mix together the ricotta/yolk and sweet potatoes

5. Add the flour to the above combination and form a soft dough

6. Create your gnocchi! (** I simply broke off ~1 T pieces and formed them into gnocchi by hand. This took some time, I will warn you**)

7. Throw the gnocchi into a large pot of boiling water, about 20 at a time (**I added a bit of EVOO to my water**)

8. When they start to float they are finished. (** It only took about 4 minutes for mine to start floating**)

CALORIES: ~350 in one large serving



Since I am an Italian who can't eat garlic or onion (and thus can't eat spaghetti sauce) I added canned stewed tomatoes (zero sodium) and parmesan cheese.

These gnocchi tasted fabulous. I plan on making these for my dad for his birthday, since he loves gnocchi. I would be really happy if he could start eating sweet potato gnocchi because at least there are some extra health benefits from the sweet potatoes and whole grain flour (beta carotene, alpha-carotene, fiber, vitamin C, more B-vitamins).





QUESTION: Have you ever tried gnocchi? Do you like it? Love it? Hate it?


22 comments :

  1. I LOVE gnocchi, but I've never made them on my own! I'm bookmarking this!

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  2. I looove gnocchi and love this idea of making a sweet potato kind!

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  3. I have never tried making gnocchi but these look delicious! I bet my husband would like them.

    Thanks for posting the recipe!

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  4. woo!! so glad you made it and like it! It's really simple and it freezes well. I hope your Dad likes it too!
    yes, I can't believe it's dec 1st already! how 2010 went so fast? well... I guess that means it was a busy year :)
    Congrats on celebrating the Christmas at your new house! I bet it feels more home than ever! :)

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  5. you are right this does look simple! I've never made gnocchi before but I made pasta in food science class :) Plus I just said yesterday that the ricotta needs to be used up!

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  6. I LOVE gnocchi and am so glad to see this recipe! I wanted to try and make it without white flour and devour anything sweet potato. So excited to try it! Thanks for sharing.

    Hope you two have fun getting a Christmas tree for your house this weekend :)

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  7. I love gnocchi! Never had it this way before though!

    We are always WAY in to the holidays this year! I don't know what it is but the day after Thanksgiving we put all our xmas stuff up!!

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  8. I've had gnocchi a couple times before and while I liked it, I doubt I'd go out of my way to get it - not a HUGE huge fan. But it sure looks like fun to make!

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  9. I made this exactly except with carrots....but wow, yours are prettier (as always)...and I am wanted to FEEL my mojo rather than eat them. I buy a box of Fiber One bars every month and have them in my glove compartment, eating half at a time...I've always wondered what your thoughts might be about it

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  10. gnocchi gives me the willies. Blegh. I can't enjoy it.

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  11. LOVE.
    When we were kids my sis and I used to help my nonna make gnocchi on Sunday mornings about once a month while our parents were at the gym pumping iron.
    Looking back, I guess I was destined to be a weightlifting foodie!

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  12. this is FABULOUS! i bet they would make a delicious dish for xmas dinner too :) i'm totes gonna make them especially if they're a hit! they'll go great with the eggplant parm we order from this amazing place.

    i'm sorry for your garlic and onion loss :( i'll pretend to be italian for you haha

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  13. I just discovered gnocci a couple of weeks ago! I love it and this recipe looks wonderful. Maybe one day I'll get back in the kitchen and try to make it from scratch. For now, I have stocked up on the store bought gnocci. Trader Joe's has a great frozen one.

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  14. I really want to like gnocchi, but it's a texture thing for me :( I love the flavor, though! But I'll try anything a few times before I write it off!! They do sounds really good!!

    P.S. Can Nick come put up our tree and lights? :)

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  15. gnocchi is fantastic! So how much better with the lovely sweet potato. I wanna try it!

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  16. Gina, these look AMAZING!!! I love love love gnocchi, and I've never made sweet potato ones before - I'm sooooo enthused!!! Thank you for the awesome recipe - I know these are going to become a favorite in our house! :-)

    Also, thank you for the blueberry beer recommendation! I'm totally psyched! New beer recommendations are always super exciting! ;-)

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  17. I will order gnocchi every once in a blue moon at a restaurant...usually when there's not anything vegetarian on the menu besides salad. I do love it, but it's usually served with a questionable sauce. I love the idea of making it yourself so you can control what goes into and on top of it.

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  18. I love fireplaces, but we don't have one! I hope my future house has one. Glad you are getting ready to enjoy yours! And you are so right...this year has gone by crazy fast!

    I do like gnocchi a lot! I made some a while ago with pumpkin, but I think I needed to use less whole wheat flour and potatoes instead. :)

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  19. I'm neutral when it comes to gnocchi. I don't mind them but wouldn't run out to get them, either.

    We're doing our tree this weekend, too. Hubby has the outside lights up already so we can check that off the list. Now I just need to finish my Christmas shopping!!!

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  20. Thanks for the earlier comment on my blog! Love gnocchi, but confess that I never ate it prior to meeting Andrea. It's one of her favorite dishes. We also put up the Christmas decorations much earlier than in previous years. Must be something extra special in the air...

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  21. I LOVE gnocchi, but I have only made them a few times. I don't know why as I always order them when I see them on a menu. These are going on my "must make" list. I think they may already be on there actually as I recall seeing them on Coco's blog, but they must have gotten buried...

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  22. Wow this is a great resource.. I’m enjoying it.. good article

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