Ginger Sweet Potato Gnocchi & Garlic Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

Ginger and garlic play very well together. Traditionally that happens most frequently in Asian-influenced dishes, but I wanted to get the same effect in something from another region. Gnocchi are great because they're relatively difficult to mess up, allow the addition of flavoring ingredients, and can be made well in advance and frozen instead of cooking immediately (though mine were fresh).

Ingredients:
gnocchi:
Sweet Potatoes
Flour
ginger
1 egg

sauce:
1 medium onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 pint heavy cream
1/4 cup butter
3-4 Tablespoons flour

Step 1:

Start by cutting your sweet potatoes in half lengthwise. You're looking for mostly-same-size pieces so they cook evenly.

Step 2:

Oil up a cookie sheet, oil the taters, and put them cut-side down on the sheet. Toss them in a 350 degree oven for 20-40 minutes.

They should be fork-smooshy, which is beyond fork tender. Basically they should do this and not bounce back up when you take away the fork:

Step 3:

At that level of doneness, the skin of the sweet potato will generally just slough off as single piece.

Step 4:

Smash those things up. They shouldn't put up much resistance, but make sure there are no fibrous bits. If there are you may want to consider finishing in the microwave or baking for a bit longer.

Step 5:

Time for gnocchi making. You want about a 1:1 ratio sweet potato and flour.

Step 6:

Mash that together until it's mostly incorporated. Then add one egg.

You may need to add another egg, but don't do so immediately. It's surprising how little you really need.

Step 7:

Now would be a good time to add ginger as well, then mix thoroughly. Use of hands is strongly recommended for this. Gnocchi dough is something you need to get a feel for and hand-mixing is the easiest way to do so. You want the dough to end up fairly soft and slightly sticky.

Of course, if you're like me and forget the ginger entirely, you'll have to do a bit of extra kneading. I used a microplane to grind a thumb-sized chunk of ginger into a fine paste, then mixed it in by hand.

Step 8:

Once you are happy with the dough, cut it into four pieces and throw down some bench flour.

Step 9:

Use those old play-doh skills to make a long, thinnish snake of dough.

Slice the snake into small pieces. Each of these will be a gnocchi, so shoot for similar sizes.

Step 10:

Pick up a piece of dough and roll it around in your hands until it's round to oblong. Then place a fork on the gnocchi and roll the fork over it, leaving an impression of the tines.

Step 11:

Repeat until you have a pan full of raw gnocchi.

Step 12:

Drop the gnocchi into a pot of boiling water, a few at a time. Pull them a few seconds after they start to float.

Step 13:

For the sauce, slice an onion in your preferred manner.

Put into a large saute pan, salt, and sweat very slowly.

Step 14:

Thinly slice three cloves of garlic.

Step 15:

Once the onions have browned nicely, add the garlic.

Cook until the garlic browns nicely.

Step 16:

Start a roux with the butter and flour. Just melt the butter, whisk in the flour until smooth, and let brown slightly.

Step 17:

In a separate saucepan, heat the cream. Stir frequently.

Step 18:

Once the cream is barely boiling, add the roux. Heat until thickened, then add the onion/garlic mixture. You now a have great garlic cream sauce.

Step 19:

Serve gnocchi with sauce.

Step 20:

Full shot of Ginger Sweet Potato Gnocchi & Garlic Cream Sauce.