Gnocchi is an Italian potatoe pasta. It is more like a dumpling or chewy noodle. Usually gnocchi is made from white potatoes, but I tried it with sweet potatoes. Gnocchi is delicious with a cream sauce, not a tomatoe sauce. I like it as a side dish, because it is a bit heavy as the main dish. Gnocchi is also wonderful dropped in soup like a dumpling. Most of all, it is fun to make and different to serve. Sweet potatoes are loaded with Beta Carotene and other beneficial vitamins and minerals. And, they're cheap! These cost .99/lb, and the total for the two was $1.20. This general recipe calls for approximately one pound of sweet potatoes. I cup of flour. Dash of salt and pepper. Dash of nutmeg. You can grate some orange peel into the sweet potatoe mash for some zing.

Take 1 cup of white flour and sprinkle some salt and pepper into it. If you like things salty, sprinkle more, if you don't like pepper, leave it out. Adjust to your taste. Make a round mound with a hole (well) in the middle. This is where the mashed sweet potatoe will go.

You will need about 1 cup of mashed sweet potatoe to make 6 servings of gnocchi. Drop it in the middle of the flour well. Do not use a food processor, because it'll make the dough tough and gewy. It doesn't have to be real smooth.

It's good to have a helper at this point, because your hands will be doughy, and someone can add the extra flour for you. Once you have a nice ball of dough, kneed it for about 5 minutes. Cut it in 4 sections and put in refridge just about 10 mins to cool and set up. Flour a cutting board. With your hands, roll each dough ball into a rope. You can cut it down to smaller ropes while rolling between your palms or on the board. Make it about 1/2 inch thick rope.

After you cut all your pieces, use a fork to press the prongs into the dough. This adds texture which will hold your sauce. It doesn't have to be perfect; you just don't want the gnocchi to be round and smooth. Now, you're ready to boil your gnocchi. Have a big pot of boiling salted water on the stove. Drop the gnocchi in by portions. Do not overload the pot. I boil about ten at a time. Once the gnocchi pops up to the top, they're done. I let them float just a minute after popping up just to make sure the dough is fully cooked. Take them out with a slotted spoon. You can freeze them for future dinners, which is always a good idea for that dreaded, "what's for dinner tonight?". You can simply saute butter, garlic and onions for the sauce. You can always heat 1/2 & 1/2 cream or milk with some parm cheese and pepper. If you have some ham cold cuts in the fridge, cut a piece in thin strips and use in your sauce with some peas.

This recipe yields about 60-70 little gnocchi's. For a main meal, you'd use about 20 pieces, and for a side item, about 10 pieces per person. These are sectioned out for freezing, and ofcourse, dinner tonight! Enjoy!!!

This sauce is in a base of 1/2 & 1/2 cream, sauted garlic, onion, parsley, white wine, and blue cheese crumbles. Very, very thick and rich (not good for diets, but good for pleasure). This sauce goes well with steak or hamburg. You can saute anything you want and just throw the gnocchi in to heat and coat.