Sweet Potato Gnocchi in a Broccoli & Shallot Sauce

Is lamb a bit of a marmite thing for you?

I love lamb, but i do know some who think lamb is the meat of the devil. They tell me it’s the fat, or the texture. Someone said it was the thought of the little baa lambs running around in a field, well that’s for another post, I guess.

  I’m a lover of lamb, so when I was sent a few samples by Yorkshire Dales Meat Company to develop a couple of recipes for their FaceBook page, I was very excited. (Click the link to go to their FaceBook page)

For the first, I was asked to make a dish that would go alongside the lamb rump they sent to me. Yes, I did say lamb rump, and what a beautiful piece it was too. The second was a recipe using the lamb in a dish.  (This I will leave for another time.)

 For the first I made some rich and dreamy sweet potato gnocchi with a tender stem broccoli and leek sauce. Gnocchi is perfect to sit next to the lamb and soak up any juices that escape. Don’t loose that flavour!

 If you’ve never attempted gnocchi before, give it a go. It’s not as difficult as a lot of chefs make it out to be. Once you’ve figured out how much flour to use, and this is the thing that may change each time you make them, (see the Tip Box) you’ll have cracked it and never want to stop making them. Little fluffy pillows, large gooey mattresses, round balls or flat shaped with a fork indentations, however you like them they are perfect to have alongside so many things.

 If I’ve made too many of one particular batch or flavour, i’ll freeze them, take them all out to defrost and eat with a great sauce and some fresh grated parmesan when Mr G is on a work trip and I’m binge watching through yet another Netflix box set. This way I get to have a lot of different flavours soaking up my sauce.

 Eating them as a meal in themselves does feel very indulgent, and if you have unexpected guests, it’s really good for brownie points. Especially if you happen to let slip that you’ve just taken some home-made gnocchi out of your freezer and you’ll just “knock up” a quick sauce for them.

 Don’t think you’ll ever get bored eating these. In the past I’ve made many flavours with many a varied sauce.

Pumpkin and sage gnocchi, beetroot and ricotta, carrot gnocchi. What about spinach gnocchi and of course good old favourite potato gnocchi. Then there are the myriad sauces you can have. Think about a spicy tomato sauce, a tasty olive and garlic or maybe bacon and cream is the one for you or even a brown butter and sage. You can oven bake them in a pot with sausage sauce or use them instead of macaroni for an alternative Monday night mac & cheese dish. You can even drop them into a soup if you’ve a few hidden away in your freezer.

You’ve probably guessed I’m a bit of a fan so I’m hoping you’ll try making them yourself and let me know how you get on and which sauce you decided to eat them with?

Enjoy your Sweet Life

Sweet Potato Gnocchi in a Broccoli & Shallots Sauce

Sweet Potato Gnocchi soaking up all the sauce

What You Need

 For the Gnocchi

• 900g Sweet Potato flesh (approx.) – See Tip- Box

• 100 gm Parmesan cheese - grated

• 150 gm Ricotta cheese Fresh Cheese  - See Tip Box

• ½ teaspoon each of Salt & Pepper

• 150 gm Plain flour (To start with)– See Tip Box

• 100gm Butter

• 1 teaspoon salt to be added to the cooking water

Not the prettiest princess at the ball , but definitely the tastiest. - Mixed and ready to form into pillows

The Sauce

• 1 pack – approx. 200gms - Tender-stem Broccoli – washed and chopped very finely stalks and leaves include

• 1 medium Leek – cleaned and finely chopped

• 150 ml - Double cream

•   Parmesan cheese – Grated

• 2 garlic cloves – crushed

• 50 gm Butter

• ½ teaspoon salt & Pepper

Little pillows ready for first cook

How It’s Done

The Gnocchi

• Heat your oven to 180c – See Tip Box

• With a fork, prick the sweet potato all over the skin, place on an ovenproof tray and cook in the oven from 45-60 minutes until the potatoes are soft in the middle. Let them cool.

•  Once cooled, scoop out the flesh into a large bowl and discard the skin.

• Add the ricotta or fresh cheese, Parmesan and salt & pepper. With a fork, mix really well until everything is combined and you have a very smooth mixture

• Add about ½ of the flour at a time mixing each time with a fork or spoon until all the flour is well combined after each addition. Don’t over mix. – See Tip Box

• As you add the flour the mixture will become easier, firmer ready to handle. You may need to add more flour here so you can handle the mixture better.

• Generously flour a work surface and very gently begin to roll and stretch big spoonful’s of the sweet potato mixture into long thin sausages.

•   Cut the sausage into approximately ½ inch pieces and transfer to a lightly floured bowl.

• To Cook - Add water and 1 teaspoon of salt to a large saucepan and bring the water to the boil.

• Gently add the gnocchi. You will know when the gnocchi is cooked because they will float to the top. Remove them from the water with a slotted spoon. You may have to cook them in batches to avoid overcrowding and having them sticking together.

• Once cooked and drained on a slotted spoon, and put back into the dry saucepan. Add 1-2 tablespoon of olive oil, toss very gently and set them aside. Once cold, this is when you can freeze the if you want to  - See Tip Box

 The Sauce

• Clean both the broccoli and the leak well, and chop them both into small pieces, A fine chop - See Tip Box

• In a non-stick frying pan, melt the butter on a medium heat. Once melted add the chopped vegetables, salt and pepper and the garlic. Combine and let them cook until they are soft but still have a little texture.

•   Once cooked, remove from the pan and set aside.

• To the same pan add 50g butter and let it melt until it begins to bubble slightly. Once hot, add the gnocchi and let them brown slightly before removing them and set aside. Add the remaining butter and repeat the process until all of the gnocchi are cooked this way.

• Once all are cooked, return them to the pan, add the vegetables, and add the Parmesan and the cream.

• Mix together very carefully so as not to break up the tender gnocchi. The sauce should be absorbed and coat the gnocchi very quickly.

• Serve hot with extra shavings of Parmesan if you want to.

 Enjoy Your Sweet Life

 Tip Box

• Oven – Oven temperatures may vary so you may have to adjust timing etc accordingly

• Mixing– Don’t over mix the sweet potato mixture. Over mixing can lead to the Gnocchi being tough

• Olive Oil – Using a little olive oil to toss in with the gnocchi after cooking should prevent them sticking together.

• Gnocchi- If you want to freeze the gnocchi, put them in the fridge for 30 minutes then freeze them individually, open on a tray before you package them up to keep in the freezer to prevent sticking together.

• Sweet Potato – If the cooked sweet potatoes are over or under the weight in the recipe, don’t worry. Just adjust the amount of flour you add to them when mixing.

• Flour - The amount of flour you use in the mix is also dictated by how you cook them and how much moisture there is left in the flesh. Be prepared to be flexible with this.

• Fresh Cheese – I used fresh cheese that I had left over after making it myself. If you want to give it a go, don’t panic, head over to my website for the full recipe and how to do it. Once you’ve made your own, you’ll be making it all the time.

• Ricotta – If you can’t get your hands on Ricotta cheese, or don’t fancy making the cheese yourself, substitute plain cottage cheese.

• Chopping – If you’re unsure how to chop finely, pop over to my YouTube channel, Lee & The Sweet Life, and watch the How To Video.