Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Broccoli Rabe and Garlic Sage Butter Sauce

Sweet Potato Gnocchi is about to happen in your life. Get ready.

This recipe is sponsored by ANDY BOY

I started a dinner club a few years ago (gah! seriously feels like yesterday ) and for this dinner club, every month, 6 friends + my happy self get together for a night of wine, appetizers, and amazing homemade food. We’re talking the type of food that we all maybe wouldn’t normally make for our families or for our regular weeknight selves, but that can be fully embraced and appreciated when we are with our foodie friends.

Example: gnocchi.

About a year ago, I learned the basics of making gnocchi at a blog related event, and I came home and said: listen up, dinner club -> we need to make gnocchi together.

I am not exaggerating when I say that our gnocchi night from last year is STILL the talk of our dinner club. It will never ever be topped, unless it’s topped by another gnocchi night, which is likely to happen before the end of the year. There were platters upon platters of that pillowy potato gnocchi, and simmering pots of tangy bolognese and creamy marsala mushroom and zippy pesto sauces that still live right at the surface of our food dreams. It was a girls’ night gnocchi event that bordered on otherworldly.

So. Today’s post is exciting for three reasons:

1. Comforting, wintery, love-yourself-GNOCCHI.
2. Superfood vegetables tasting ahhmazing (hello sweet potato and broccoli rabe).
3. Weeknight ease.

Do you believe me? Look here.

As with most recipes that I make, I like them to be NOT OVERWHELMING.

With the fancy gnocchi night, I boiled, dried, rested, cooled, and riced the potatoes before mixing. That was a different time.

This time we are literally just baking in the microwave. Okay? Can you get on board with me here? Just bake that little sweet potater in your micro for speed and ease, mix it with the ricotta, Parm, and flour, and form into cute little gnocchi. Boil them till they float, and voila. Gnocchi.

These gnocchi are sturdy enough to stand up to the sage-garlic-butter-pan-frying situation that follows, which is exactly what I wanted them to be: golden and crispy on the outside, and soft and loverly on the inside.

To avoid getting overly sweet (and to throw some powerhouse nutrition in the mix), we are serving this up with broccoli rabe – blanched to tender-crisp perfection before getting tossed in to the magic of that saute pan.

In addition to being a SUPER HEALTHY power ingredient, I loved using broccoli rabe with this because it was kind of like a textural cross between broccoli and spinach. You have the leaves of the broccoli rabe which cook super nicely similar to spinach, and you have the beautiful, barely-crunchy florets that are small enough not to overwhelm the dish.

Besides, the colors.

You NEED those bold colors working together in your recipe life.

Do we love gnocchi or do we love gnocchi?

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Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Broccoli Rabe and Garlic Sage Butter Sauce

Author: Pinch of Yum

Serves: 6-8 servings

 

Ingredients

• Gnocchi:
• 1 1-lb sweet potato
• 1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
• ¼ cup Parmesan cheese
• 1½ teaspoons salt
• 1¼ cup flour (more for dusting)
• Sauce and Other Ingredients:
• 5 cups finely chopped Andy Boy broccoli rabe (stems, leaves, and florets)
• 8 tablespoons butter
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• 2 cloves garlic
• 5-6 sage leaves
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• ¼ cup Parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. For the gnocchi: Stick the sweet potato a few times with a fork, wrap in a damp paper towel, and microwave until soft, about 7 minutes. (You can also bake the sweet potato in the oven, which will take closer to an hour.)
2. Scoop the flesh of the sweet potato into a mixing bowl. Discard the skin. Mix the ricotta, parmesan, and salt until well combined and almost completely smooth. Add the flour ½ cup at a time, kneading very gently after each addition (don’t over knead it - you don’t want it to get tough).
3. Eventually, as the dough becomes easier to handle, transfer it to a clean floured work surface and form it into a loaf, about 9x5 inches. Cut a slice off of the loaf on the short side (think of it as if it were a loaf of banana bread and you were going to cut a slice to eat). Roll and stretch the slice on a floured surface until it forms a long, skinny rope-like shape. Cut the rope into 1-inch segments and transfer to a bowl: this is your gnocchi.
4. Bring a large pot of water to boil, add the gnocchi, and boil until the gnocchi rise to the top of the water. Drain and toss gently with a little olive oil to prevent sticking. At this point you can make the rest of the recipe with the gnocchi, refrigerate the gnocchi to finish them later, or freeze them.
5. For the Broccoli Rabe: Bring a large pot of water to boil and prepare a bowl with ice water. Add the broccoli rabe to the boiling water and cook for 1 minute. Drain and transfer to the ice water to cool and stop the broccoli rabe from cooking further. Drain again and set aside.
6. Putting it all together: Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium high heat until lightly bubbling and foaming. Add the gnocchi and pan-fry until golden brown on the outside (you may have to do this in batches). Once the gnocchi is done, add the broccoli rabe, garlic, sage, and salt and pan-fry for another few minutes (again, working in batches). Remove from heat and let cool slightly so the butter thickens just a little. Add the cream to the pan along with the Parmesan cheese - toss gently a few times to combine (the sauce should coat the gnocchi and broccoli rabe very lightly) and serve immediately with salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice if you want.

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Thank you to Andy Boy for sponsoring this post!

MORE TASTY SWEET POTATO RECIPES:

Sweet Potato Casserole

Summer Bliss Bowls with Sweet Potato Falafel

Healing Bowls with Turmeric Sweet Potatoes

Chipotle Sweet Potato Noodle Salad

Creamy Thai Sweet Potato Curry

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