Halloween Pasta Dumplings (Not Your Grandma’s Gnocchi)

Truth is Grandma Pauline never made Gnocchi. I can’t recall having it growing up, and possibly never actually had it ever in my life. But my daughter Tricia loves Gnocchi and knew enough the last time we made it to determine it was an epic fail. Which at our house translates to CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. And we try and try again until we get something if not close to it’s target, then at least tasty. And these oversized boiled dumplings certainly ticked enough boxes that they were worthy of an honorable mention. It took a full two hours, not including the time to roast the yams which was earlier in the day. Making fresh gnocchi for 10 people is alot alot of dumplings. Next time, we will consider getting four pots of water boiling which should cut down the cook time considerably. As it was we made two batches, one with white potatoes and one with yams. So that was 7 plates of gnocchi that each needed 3 minutes in the water. It adds up.

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Halloween Pasta Dumplings (Not Your Grandma’s Gnocchi)

Servings: 10

Ingredients

Servings

• 2 pounds Peeled Cooked Sweet Potatoes (Roasted not boiled)
• 2 Eggs
• 2 cups Unbleached Flour
• 0.5 teaspoons Salt

Instructions

1. Gnocchi is a science. Depending on how moist your yams are, you will need more or less flour. Start with less and continue to add more as you kneed your dough. Roast and peel your yams, let chill for a couple hours in the fridge so they won't cook the egg. Take the cold yams and run through a ricer to get a nice light fluffy texture. With a fork whisk your eggs then add to yam, mixing well.
   
2. Add your flour and mix until it comes into a ball. Kneed on a lightly floured surface until the dough is no longer sticky. But it should still feel moist. Divide into four sections and roll each into a long rope about 1 inch in diameter. Chop into little pieces. If you WANT you can roll onto a fork to get little ridges but if you are making this for 10 people, who has the time or willpower to do that?
   
3. Make sure your water is boiling and that you have a sauce pan with butter waiting on the side to give them a quick saute when they are done simmering. Do not over crowd your pot, place about a quarter of them (one rope's worth) into salted boilling water and let simmer until they float. About 3 minutes. Then with a slotted spoon, remove them from the water and toss into a heated frying pan with butter (and sage if you like).
   
4. For a fun twist, you can also toss the hot pan seared dumplings with a bit of cinnamon and sugar for a lovely dessert treat.