Sweet potato gnocchi with brown butter, sage and pine nuts

We’re celebrating Fathers’ Day this issue, so it goes without saying that a little bit of amore is in order. Carbs may be out with the Paleo kids, but who really cares? After all, nothing says thank you like a bear hug and a bowl of spaghetti. Or in this case, gnocchi. Sweet potatoes, burnt butter and sage are one of life’s best combos, so this recipe is for deserving daddies only!

Recipe serves 4.

---

Ingredients:

2 large sweet potatoes

2 Dutch cream potatoes, peeled and diced into 1 inch cubes

1 cup plain flour, plus extra for dusting

1 small bunch of sage leaves, leaves picked

Sea salt flakes

Black pepper

2 tablespoons pine nuts

50g unsalted butter

Olive oil

1 lemon, cut into wedges to serve

Method:

Preheat an oven to 190C. Wrap the sweet potatoes in foil and roast until soft. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to the boil, add a pinch of salt and boil the potato cubes until very tender. Drain
and set aside.

Once the sweet potatoes have cooled, remove the soft flesh from the skins and combine in a bowl with the cooked potato. Using a stick blender, blitz the potatoes until smooth. Finely slice half of the sage leaves and add them to the mash along with the egg, flour and a generous pinch of salt and a grind of black pepper. Combine the ingredients to form a sticky dough.

Turn the dough out onto a clean, floured surface. Dust your hands with flour and knead the dough until smooth. Divide the dough into 4 pieces and roll each into logs around an inch in diameter. Use a butter knife to cut the log into bite sized pieces. Repeat with the remaining balls of dough. Set aside the gnocchi on a greaseproof paper-lined baking tray and place in the fridge, uncovered for at least an hour or two to dry out.

In a frying pan on a medium to high heat, add a tablespoon of olive oil and pan fry the gnocchi for 2-3 minutes on each side until browned on both sides. Add the butter and allow it to foam up and start to smell nutty. Add a handful of whole sage leaves and the pine nuts and allow them to fry in the butter. Once the butter is bubbly and brown, remove the gnocchi onto serving plates.

Drizzle the brown butter, pine nuts and sage leaves on top. Season with a little more salt and pepper, and serve with a lemon wedge.

Words: Melissa Leong, www.fooderati.blogspot.com