Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Gnocchi with Roasted Mushrooms and Crispy Sage is the perfect Fall supper. Roasted sweet potato and pumpkin puree takes gnocchi to the next level!
Homemade Gnocchi
Making your own pasta can be seen as a daunting task. Although there are just a handful of basic ingredients, surely the process of making your own pasta is incredibly complex…right?
Wrong.
What Is Gnocchi?
Gnocchi is an Italian variety of pasta resembling small dumplings. Its ingredients typically include flour, egg, cheese, potato, and breadcrumbs. Once formed, the gnocchi take just a few minutes to cook in a pot of simmering water, their doneness indicated when they begin to float.
How To Make Gnocchi
In this Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Gnocchi, we’ll prepare it similarly to a basic gnocchi recipe. It starts with the potato. The flesh of the sweet potato turns smooth and creamy when roasted. I’ll prepare the sweet potato about an hour before I’m planning to start the gnocchi, since it will take some time for the sweet potato to roast and cool.
When ready to prepare the dough, it’s simple! Everything goes in to one bowl: the sweet potato flesh, the pumpkin puree, the eggs, flour, parmesan, salt, and pepper. Everything gets lightly stirred together, though take heed with my caution: overworking any pasta dough will result in t a gummy dough and finished product, Especially with a cut of pasta such as gnocchi, which is larger and more toothsome than finer strands of, let’s say, linguine.
Once the dough is formed in to a ball, we divide it in to fourths, which are rolled out and cut in to… you guessed it! Gnocchi.
Now at this point, you’ve got gnocchi, so celebrate! It will be delicious as is, with no additional shaping needed. However, if you happen to have a gnocchi board, now is the time to use it. Carefully take each gnocchi and slide it along the grates of the board, indenting each side. You may need to flour the dough, as it is quite wet. Set each gnocchi aside on a platter or baking sheet with flour so they don’t stick!
The only thing left to do is cook them!
These little cuties get plopped in to a pot of simmering water. How do you know when they’re done? They’ll float! This should take just 3-4 minutes, so stay close. Also, be careful to not overcrowd the pan: you’ll likely do a few batches to cook all the gnocchi. Though they’ll be delicious right now, I like giving them a quick sauté to get them lightly browned.
How To Serve Gnocchi
Given that this gnocchi includes the warm flavors of sweet potato and pumpkin, I chose to keep things simple with sautéed mushrooms and crispy sage. Other delicious ideas for serving this gnocchi:
- Garlicky Kale and Sausage
- Crumbled Bacon and Rosemary
- Sauté with chipotles in Adobo sauce
- Sliced chicken sausage and spinach
Looking for other delicious and comforting recipes?
Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Gnocchi with Roasted Mushrooms and Crispy Sage
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 medium sweet potato
- 1 cup pure pumpkin puree
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp freshly grounded pepper
- 1/4 cup olive oil, divided
- 10 fresh sage leaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Poke the potato all over with fork. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until fork tender. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes.
- As sweet potato is baking, prepare the roasted mushrooms. Add 2 teaspoons of olive oil to a large saute pan. Add mushrooms, seasoning lightly with salt and pepper (they only need a pinch, as you'll season more later). Continue sauteeing until the mushroom begin to wilt and their liquid starts to realease, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and seat aside. You may rewarm the mushrooms right before you serve.
- One the sweet potato is cooled, make the gnocchi dough: halve the potato and spoon out flesh in to a large bowl, discarding the skin. Add pumpkin puree and mash together until mostly smooth. Add the eggs, flour, parmesan, salt, and pepper. Stir until just combined, being careful to not overmix (this will make the gnocchi gummy). If the dough seems wet, add a little more flour. The dough should be sticky. Form in to a ball.
- Scrape dough onto generous floured working surface. Cut the dough in to 4 equal pieces. One at a time, roll dough in to a 1 inch rope. Using a sharp knife, cut in to 1 inch pieces. If you have a gnocchi board, roll each side of your gnocchi on it to indent the sides. Place gnocchi on to prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining sections of dough.
- Bring large pot of water to boil over high heat. Add gnocchi and cook until they float to the top, 3-4 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon.
- In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium high. Add gnocchi in a single layer, working in batches if necessary, and cook, undisturbed, until golden and crisp, 3-4 minutes. Turn the gnocchi and cook 3 minutes more. Remove for skillet and set aside.
- In the same skillet, add remaning olive oil. Once oil is hot, place sage leaves in pan, allowing to lightly crisp in the oil. Remove to a paper towel. Rewarm mushrooms if needed at this time.
- Plate gnocchi, top with mushrooms and crispy sage. Serve with salt, pepper, and additional parmesan cheese.