This morning I was looking at my home page and I realized that there is a lot of orange sweet potato and pumpkin going on. Considering the time of year I think it is very fitting. Maybe I should go red and green when Christmas comes around? Got any green and red recipes that I can try out for Christmas? In keeping with the autumn orange theme I got the idea to try a sweet potato gnocchi covered in gouda cheese sauce. The idea was to do it in a stovetop mac and cheese kind of style.
I have never made a potato gnocchi before. Many moons ago I did a quick and easy ricotta gnocchi but I had never done a potato gnocchi. I have always been a little skittish to try to make gnocchi. I have always heard it is so temperamental. They can easily turn out gummy or too heavy. I didn’t have either problem with this recipe.
First and most important you need 1 pound of sweet potato. Wash and scrub the potatoes.
In the photos I as preparing a double recipe so that is why you see so many potatoes.
Pierce the potatoes with a fork. This is an opportunity to relieve some aggression or stress.
Microwave the potato for 5-6 minutes on each side, until tender.
Slice the potatoes in half and let cool.
Scoop out the flesh of the potatoes and mash, you need 1 1/2 cups of mashed potato. Add the ricotta cheese and mix together.
Add Parmesan cheese, brown sugar, 1 teaspoons salt, and nutmeg; mash to blend.
Mix in flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, until soft dough forms.
Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface, knead a few times and shape into a rectangle. Cut into 3 equal portions.
Here I divided the dough into 6 equal portions because, like I said, I was doing a double recipe.
Roll each section into a 1 inch diameter rope, flouring as needed.
Cut rope in half, and in half again. Cut the four ropes into 5 sections, finishing with 20 dumplings.
Roll each dumpling over tines of fork to indent.
Place the dumplings on baking sheet.
Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Working in batches, drop in the dumplings. Cook for 5-6 minutes, until tender. Drain and set aside on clean baking sheet. Let cool completely.
Time for the sinful cheese sauce. CHEEEEESE!
In a saucepan combine milk, garlic, onion and sage leaves. Place over a medium heat and heat until tiny bubbles begin to form along the edges. Do not bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes. Remove and discard onion, garlic and sage leaves.
In another sauce pan, melt butter and add flour.
Cook and stir until blended, 1 minute.
You have made a roux!
Gradually add the milk, whisking constantly.
Reduce the heat to low and continue to whisk until the sauce is smooth and slightly thickened, 4 to 5 minutes. Dip a wooden spoon in the sauce to coat it. Pass your finger through the sauce on the back of the spoon, it should leave a clean track.
Now lick your finger. Very important step, don’t skip it.
Strain the sauce into an clean saucepan. Whisk in 1 cup of shredded Gouda cheese. Cook over low heat, whisking constantly, until the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve gnocchi drizzled with Gouda cheese sauce. Sprinkle with minced sage leaves and fresh ground nutmeg.
This was delicious and a little goes a long way. They may look small but they are very filling.
The cheese sauce was incredible, smooth with just a touch of smokiness from the Gouda. The gnocchi turned out light and tender. The one this I think I may do next time is pan fry them up a bit in a tiny bit of butter or olive oil to warm and crisp them up a bit. Otherwise I loved this dish. It was also a dish I managed to get by Obed without any meat. Granted his plate was doused in cheese sauce. In fact I am not sure if I saw gnocchi on his plate. Although I am sure it was there.
Get yourself some Gouda cheese sauce with gnocchi or gnocchi with cheese sauce, it’s up to you.
Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Gouda Cheese Sauce (serves 4) (Bon Appetit Dec 2005)
Gnocchi
- 1-pound red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams), rinsed, patted dry, pierced all over with fork
- 6-ounces fresh ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar
- 1 teaspoons plus 1 tablespoons salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 1 3/4 cups (about) all purpose flour
Sauce (makes 2 cups)
- 2 cups milk, heated,
- 1/4 onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 3 sage leaves
- Salt and freshly ground white pepper, to taste
- 3 Tbs. unsalted butter
- 3 Tbs. all-purpose flour
- 1 cup Gouda cheese, shredded
Gnocchi
Line large baking sheet with parchment paper. Place sweet potatoes on plate; microwave on high until tender, about 5-6 minutes per side. Cut in half and cool. Scrape sweet potato flesh into medium bowl and mash; transfer 1 1/2 cup to large bowl. Add ricotta cheese; blend well. Add Parmesan cheese, brown sugar, 1 teaspoons salt, and nutmeg; mash to blend. Mix in flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, until soft dough forms.
Turn dough out onto floured surface; divide into 3 equal pieces. Rolling between palms and floured work surface, form each piece into 20-inch-long rope (about 1 inch in diameter), sprinkling with flour as needed if sticky. Cut each rope into 20 pieces. Roll each piece over tines of fork to indent. Transfer to baking sheet.
Bring large pot of water to boil; add 1 tablespoons salt and return to boil. Working in batches, boil gnocchi until tender, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer gnocchi to clean rimmed baking sheet. Cool completely. (Can be made 4 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.)
Sauce
In a small sauce pot combine milk, onion, garlic and sage. Place over medium heat and heat tiny bubbles appear around the edges of the pan, about 5 minutes. Do not boil. Remove pan from heat and let stand for 10 minutes. Remove and discard onion, garlic and sage leaves. Cover to keep warm.
In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring, until blended, 1 minute.
Gradually add the milk, whisking constantly. Reduce the heat to low and continue to whisk until the sauce is smooth and slightly thickened, 4 to 5 minutes. Dip a wooden spoon in the sauce to coat it. Pass your finger through the sauce on the back of the spoon, it should leave a clean track.
Strain the sauce into an clean saucepan. Whisk in 1 cup of shredded Gouda cheese. Cook over low heat, whisking constantly, until the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
What a great idea! Some real gnarly gnocchi! The gouda would definitely add some great smokey flavours to it as well. I can’t wait to give this a try!
I made 4 times the recipe tonight (a ton of work!) but my entire family adored it. The sauce was beautiful and creamy, the gnocchi wasn’t too strong and the flavours complemented themselves fabulously. I may just make these for a formal occasion! This was my first time making gnocchi too! great recipe and easy to follow.
This looks great! I’ve been making sweet potatoes a lot lately. This is a great recipe to add to my recent sweet potato extravaganza.
look yummy 🙂 but yams are something completely different in New Zealand (they look like fat red grubs) and sweet potatoes are called kumara and can be red, gold or white. I prefer them over ordinary potatoes and will definitely be trying this 🙂
These look delicious and healthy! They look wonderful and I’m sure would be great comfort food!
The color is beautiful and would make a wonderful dish for a special occasion. Yummy!
Oh my goodness. This looks like the perfect meal. I’m getting hungry already, yum!
I cooked this for dinner tonight, followed the recipe to the letter, and it tasted gross. The sweet potato and the flour together really don’t work – it leaves a horrible taste in your mouth. Kinda annoyed I wasted all that money making it.
Good idea in theory – de facto, not so much.
(Just my opinion though!)
I love sweet potato, gnocchi and gouda, so suffice it to say this recipe (and the photos) spoke to my heart and my stomach! I hate onion though, so I’d probably alter this recipe just a smidge, perhaps adding some cinnamon to give the sweet potato a bit of bite. Looks delish!
Yum yum this looks great!!
I have been wanting to try this recipe for awhile now… Finally got around to it this weekend, and it was AMAZING. The gnocchi were delicious, but there are just no words to describe that gouda sauce! The flavors balanced perfectly. This recipe is definitely going into my favorites!
Will it change the cheese sauce texture if you use skim milk or 1%…my husband and I have to watch our cholesteral? but he loves gnocchis. What about using wheat flour, instead of white??
I dont think I have ever been this excited about an online food blog!
It makes me want to run to the kitchen! I just got done making plain old cavetelli,
but this just opened my eyes to all new possibilities 😀
Can the gnocchi be made one day ahead?
I love sweet potato but I’ve never tried gnocchi before. Have to try this soon!
This was time consuming, but turned out pretty good. I found that I had to add a lot of salt to the cheese sauce, but that could have been because of the quality of the gouda I used (I picked the cheapest, of course… haha).
I made this recipe just an hour ago for dinner and I couldn’t wait to comment…IT WAS DELICIOUS, SUPURB, DIVINE, and AMAZING. So so so good. It was my first time to ever make sweet potato gnocci’s and it was actually good, it had a settle not so sweet taste. Thanks for this recipe because it’s going to stay with me for LIFE.
Wow! I was looking for a recipe to use up some leftover baked sweet potates and found this. I can’t wait to try it tonight!
Great recipe and instructions! I stumbled upon this and really want to try it for a dinner party I’m attending. I’ve never made gnocchi before – Do you think it would be possible to make a gluten-free version substituting pecan meal (essentially super finely ground pecans) for the normal flour? Or would this mess with the texture/consistency?
I tried this recipe last night for my boyfriend (he doesn’t think I can cook! psh!) and it turned out great! He loved it and took all of the leftovers with him to lunch today 🙂
He was so surprised when he got home because there were TONS of dishes all over the kitchen, but it really all came together in the end. I’ll be making this again (and making the gnocchi ahead of time) so I don’t get so disorganized hehe. Also I have never cooked gnocchi before and I had no idea that they float when they are done cooking, how ADORABLE! Thanks for the recipe!
This is a wonderful recipe, thanks so much for sharing. You did a great job with the images too; I will definitely try this recipe this weekend.
I tried the recipe: delicious! Thank you for posting it. Have you ever tried the one with ricotta cheese instead of the egg?
Anyway, I’m a big fan of sweet potatoes, I recently write an article on their health benefits, check it out: http://www.theironyou.com/2011/04/sweet-potato-hollywoods-stars-favorite.html
Peace
TheIronYou
I’m a beginner cook, but an expert gnocchi eater and had to make this. It took way way too long for me but totally worth it in the end. So good! I ended up with double (whoops!) so I thought I’d freeze the extra. Is that okay?
this is a very good recipe. my only problem is that it’s not for the beginning cook because of its difficulty level and time consumption.
was this made with smoked gouda? im a huge fan, im just wondering if that would upset the flavour of the sweet potato?
I did make it with smoked gouda, so feel free!
I ended up using smoked cheddar instead because i couldnt find the gouda. this turned out perfectly, the flavours matched perfectly. thank you for this recipe i will be making it for years to come!
Yes! Since I ate gnocchi for the first time a few years ago, I’ve become a fiend for it. Plus Gouda cheese (smoked)? Legendary combination! Definitely trying it out this week.
Wow! This looks mouth watering! I must do this recipe. Amazing!!
Ruth
I have had sweet potato gnocchi on the brain for some time now – your recipe looks awesome!
Is ist possible to skip the parmesan cheese or maybe replace it with something else? 🙂
great recipe 😀
-Aida-
That looks so awesome…let me know if you need another taster 🙂
Mmmmm, these were so good! This was my first time making gnocchi and it was easy. Not to mention the fact that it made a bunch and we will be able to have it for several meals. I think I will follow your example and make two batches next time so I can freeze ahead. The first batch I boiled then fried in butter and served with pancake syrup. Mmmmm, Mmmmm, good. Can’t wait to try the cheese sauce.
Tried making this a while ago when it was tweeted to me and it tasted absolutely delicious.
Just came across this on Stumble…looks absolutely AMAZING!!!
Any thoughts/ideas on using whole wheat flour instead of part or all of the AP flour?
Whole wheat flour may be too heavy for gnocchi but if you really want to try it I would maybe do a mix of whole wheat and AP. I would also sift the whole wheat flour to try and get as much of the husk out. If you try it out let me know how it goes. I am sure others would be interested.
A friend sent me this recipe, and I am glad that they did, because now I’ve discovered a new blog as well! This recipe sounds amazing. I have bookmarked it for a time when my husband is out of town or me and some of my girlfriends all have a potluck dinner, or something… my husband hates sweet potatoes! But it looks so incredibly good to me! Nice to meet you!
Just made this recipe for Christmas Eve! It was delicious! The gnocchi were amazing and it wasn’t too hard to make. But I left the milk alone for a moment and it burnt the bottom of the pan! It still turned out magnificent and I’d recommend it to anyone!
This is a fantastic recipe. I tried it over the weekend and it turned out perfectly – with any recipe like this though, I am always careful to make sure not to overcook. My oven is a bit on the older side and that can lead me to problems if I don’t keep an eye on things!
I made this recipe for the first time- slightly different sauce, but the gnocchi were DELICIOUS!!!!!!!! I highly recommend this recipe!
I just finished making these with mu leftover sweet potatoes from Thanksgiving. They will be tonights side dish…thanks for the receipe
that looks delicious. thanks for picturing the steps. looks great. would like to try the gouda.
Oh wow, this sounds fantastic! I’m going to give this a shot, but I’m scared I’m going to ruin it! I’ve never attempted to make any homemade gnocchi of any kind. Wish me luck!!! I hope I do your recipe justice 🙂
OMG!!! I just had to come over to your site, I was browsing foodgawker and saw these gnocchi and the GOUDA cheese sauce. This recipe is a revelation, and just looking at your photos is making me drool! I think I need to make this pronto. Maybe even just eat the cheese sauce by itself. 🙂
Holy tubers, Batman! I have never made homemade gnocchi in my life but may have to make an exception for these. The photos are stunning! Thanks for this recipe.
Zoe
These look incredible! I can’t wait to make them!
Saw these on foodgawker… and knew they would change my life. Then when Bridget tweeted them I knew it was a sign. Must make them!!!
Oh my goodness!!! LOVE everything about these! Can i PLEASE come over for dinner?!?
LOVE the look and sound of these sweet potato gnocchi – especially with the awesome gouda sauce. I’ve been on a huge sweet potato kick recently, and this recipe is going straight to the top of my “to make” list!
I also must say that I adore the name of your blog – so clever 🙂
Wow! Had to comment because looking at your finished plate made me basically fall off my chair. Can’t wait to try this!
I live in Korea and don’t have access to yams (sob). I’m thinking of trying it with steamed pumpkin. Any suggestions?
Amanda,
We make “pumkin pie” with sweet potatoes so see no reason why you couldn’t substitue pumkin. It may be a little thinner in texture so you may need to add a small amount of extra flour. I have also had both sweet potato and pumkin ravioli and they have similar tases – both are delicious.
I’d like to make this for Thanksgiving, but only if I can make both ahead of time. Is this possible with the gnocchi and the cheese sauce too?
this looks great! I love how you added the cheese sauce with the Gnocci! I’ve never cooked it but Love to eat it! I am def going to have to give this a try!
I made my first spinach ricotta gnocchi many years ago and the when all out and boght the tool from argentina to make the real thing. The tool is still in my gardget drawer and no gnocchi.
You made a very rich dish that is perfect for a starter. Looks incredibly delicious.
As I read through the post, I kept thinking, “where’s the meat going to show up? Obed is not going to eat this without meat.” I laughed out loud when I read your bit about his plate being covered in cheese sauce!
Definitely too rich for a regular sized pasta portion but as an appetizer or first dish…the bomb! 🙂
It’s absolutely mouth watering! Thanks for the great step by step tutorial, adding to my recipes to be tried!
Funny, those are yam’s in Canada. The sweet potatoes are the yellow ones here but I have noticed that Safeway in Canada has started to also give them the American names. On the red and green theme, my Grandma used to serve green jello with red pepper bits in it for Xmas dinner. Hmmmm….no wonder nobody in our family has made that since she passed away.
Yams are both “red” and yellow; they are no different in Canada then they are in any other place considering that yams are not even native to Canada. People call the “red” yams sweet potatoes because they are in the same family as potatoes and they are sweet, but the yellow yams are far from being sweet, so I can’t figure why you would think that the yellow yams are “sweet potatoes”
I’m from Canada too and Diana’s right! Those are yams here, and the yellow ones are sweet potatoes. Weird how that works out, but I’m pretty sure because you can actually go to restaurants here and order ‘yam fries’ which are orange or ‘sweet potato fries’ which are yellow. Both are super tasty, though I personally prefer sweet potatoes 🙂
…actually the difference between yams and sweet potatoes are where they are grown. Yams are grown in Louisiana…Sweet potatoes are grown everywhere else.
YOMMMMMM!!
That is one hearty and delicious dish! I love your choice of flavors.
Cheers,
Rosa