The night before the Twin Cities Marathon (which I recently successfully ran!), my running partner made homemade pasta while I put together some sauces. It was part of our grand carbo-loading plan. The next weekend, she invited me over for homemade gnocchi - this time with no carbo loading in mind, just pure taste-filled pleasure. They turned out so well that I tried to make them myself at home - with success! They're actually super easy - easier than other pastas that require the pasta machine to make. They're so soft and pillow-y! Despite binge-ing on them all last week and declaring myself carbed-out over the weekend, I made them again this week, and they turned out great once again. So, here's the recipe for future use. Try them - you won't be disappointed!
Sweet Potato Gnocchi
Ingredients
1. Large sweet potato or a combination of sweet potatoes and yams. About 2-2.5 lbs total.
2. 1 large egg
3. 1/4 tsp salt
4. 1 - 1.5 cups flour
5. 1/4 cup white wine (perhaps)
Directions
1. Bring a larger saucepan filled with water to a boil. Also bring a large pot filled with water + dash of salt to a boil.
2. While waiting for the water to boil, peel the potatoes, cut in halves or quarters (if large), then place into the saucepan of boiling water and cook until they are soft (a fork can be inserted to them without resistance)
3. Drain the potatoes and transfer them to a clean bowl.
4. Put the potatoes through a potato rice or do a combination of grating the potatoes and mashing them so that they are fairly smooth and there are no major chunks.
5. Mix in the egg fairly well.
6. Fold in 1 cup of flour; add more if necessary. The dough should still be somewhat sticky. If it ends up being too dry, add the white wine about 1 teaspoon at a time to combat the dryness until the flour is incorporated.
7. On a good-sized cutting board or clean surface, sprinkle a handful of flour. Take about 3/4 cup of the dough and roll it out into a 'snake-shape' until it's about 1-2cm thick and not sticking to the board. Try not to overwork. Cut the snake into 1-2cm pieces. Repeat with all the other pieces of dough until it's all made into gnocchi.
8. Place the raw gnocchis in the larger pot of boiling water and cook for 3-4 minutes or until the gnocchis float + 1 minute. Then, drain the gnocchis and immediately either cool with some water or drizzle with olive oil / butter to prevent them from sticking.
9. They are ready to eat with the sauce of your choice!
Vodka Sauce
Ingredients
1. 1 large onion
2. 3 cloves of garlic
3. 4 large tomatoes
4. 1 Tablespoon basil
5. 1/2 cup vodka
6. dash of olive oil or 1 tablespoon of butter
7. 1/4 cup heavy cream
8. Salt to taste
Directions
1. Clean the tomatoes, cut out the stem part, cut in half and place in a blender (VitaMix preferably). Blend until smooth and almost juice-like (about 15-20 seconds). Set aside.
2. Dice the onion (cut it into 1cm squares). In a large saucepan, place the onion and olive oil/butter and bring it to warm / sizzle over low-medium heat. Cook until the onions get somewhat transluscent. Stir regularly to prevent too much browning.
3. Chop the garlic into little pieces. One the onions are about done, add the garlic and the basil and cook until you can smell both of them - about 30-60 seconds.
4. Add the vodka, and stir. Once cooked down, add the pureed tomatoes. Cook until the sauce has cooked down some and the sauce is the thickness that you like - about 5-10 minutes. Take off of the heat.
5. Take an immersion blender and blend the whole sauce to get rid of the onion chunks.
6. Add the heavy cream. Stir.
7. Ready to serve - enjoy!
