Sweet potato gnocchi with honey and browned butter

Have you ever made gnocchi at home? Although the most traditional ones are the homemade potato gnocchi, these sweet potato gnocchi with honey and toasted butter they are a real treat and I assure you that making them is not difficult at all. This is a quick and easy recipe, and very flattering. Also, these sweet potato gnocchi are much more colorful and, sautéed with browned butter, sage, and garlic, just as I suggest, the result is really very tasty.

We should take advantage of the fact that we are in the middle of sweet potato season and now is when they are at their best. They take center stage freshly roasted and accompanying chestnuts during the All Saints' Day celebration. But the Sweet potato is a a very versatile ingredient, something that also happens to pumpkin, with which it shares its lovely color and its High in beta-carotene and vitamin A, among other nutritional benefits.

Thinly sliced and fried, or panadera-style and roasted, with a few flakes of salt on top, they make a wonderful side dish. The roasted flesh is fantastic as part of the dough or batter for sponge cakes, brioches, or fritters, and, of course, also in creamy vegetable soups or, thicker, as a purée to accompany meat. As you can see, it can be put to great use in the kitchen and these Sweet potato gnocchi with honey and brown butter They are an ideal and delicious example.

Ingredients

• 2 or 3 sweet potatoes
• 1 large potato
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon of fine salt
• 210 g of all-purpose flour
• 30 g of cake flour
• 85 g of butter
• 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 70 g pine nuts
• 1 dessert spoon of fresh sage, finely chopped
• 85 g of honey
• 150 g of baby spinach
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (to taste)

Preparation

Preparation of the gnocchi (dough and shaping)

1. Start by roasting the sweet potatoes and the potato. Preheat the oven to 220º C and cut them in half lengthwise. Place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, flesh-side down. Roast for about 30-35 minutes, or until a fork slides in easily and they’re tender.
2. When they have cooled and you can handle them without burning yourself, remove the skin from the potato and the sweet potatoes and put the flesh in the bowl of your KitchenAid food processor. Attach the flat beater or mixing paddle and mix for a few seconds at speed 2, then increase to speed 6 for half a minute.
3. Now remove the mixing attachment and fit the dough hook. Add the egg yolk and the salt, and set the mixer to speed 2.
4. When it is running, start adding the flour little by little, in several additions (add roughly a quarter of the flour each time). Add one portion, and as soon as you see it has been incorporated, add the next. As soon as you’ve added all the flour, turn off the mixer.
5. The dough should be slightly sticky. If you find it’s very sticky and hard to handle, add a little more flour before taking it out of the bowl (between 15 and 30 g more).
6. Flour the work surface and, with floured hands, take the dough out of the bowl.
7. Knead a little by hand until you feel the dough is easier to handle.
8. Divide the dough into 6 equal parts and roll each piece into a rope about 1,5 cm thick.
9. Cut the cylinders lengthwise into 1,5 cm pieces and mark each piece with a fork or with a gnocchi board. Set aside.

Preparation of gnocchi with honey and brown butter

1. Bring water to a boil in a large pot or in your Le Creuset cast iron casserole. When the water comes to a boil, add the salt, stir a little, and start cooking the gnocchi. Do it in batches and let them boil for about 4-5 minutes. You'll know they're ready when you see them rise and float.
2. Take out the gnocchi with a slotted spoon and set them aside on a baking sheet to cool.
3. Now heat your Le Creuset cast iron Shallow Casserole and add the butter. Let it melt over medium heat and, once melted, lower the heat and cook the butter, stirring occasionally, until it takes on a nice toasted color and you notice a slightly nutty aroma, about 3 minutes.
4. Raise the heat a little and add the pine nuts, sage, and minced garlic. Stir well so they mix with the butter. Keep stirring and let them toast for 1 to 2 minutes.
5. Add the gnocchi to the Shallow Casserole and stir gently so they absorb the butter and the aroma of sage and garlic. Let it cook for 1 minute without covering the Shallow Casserole.
6. Add the honey, stir gently, and cook for 1 more minute before adding the baby spinach.
7. As soon as you've added the spinach, cover the Shallow Casserole and sauté them for 1 more minute.
8. Uncover the Shallow Casserole, stir gently, and turn off the heat.
9. Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and, before serving, sprinkle a few flakes of salt and freshly ground black pepper.
10. Serve with extra grated Parmesan, in case you'd like to add more.