Sweet Potato Gnocchi

Recently here in the kitchen we experienced what I'm (still) calling the Sweet Potato Glut. No we didn't grow our own, but yes, I may have gone a little wild at the market. I had every intention of making these oven fries, to accompany some slow cooker 'pulled pork' sandwiches but never found the gumption, once my guests had arrived. So there I stood facing five rather large sweet potatoes, totally unwilling to let them go to waste. I roasted two of them last weekend, and made muffins with one (I actually made another batch of these this past weekend) and I found a way to stretch the other into dinner. Gnocchi had been something I had been interested in for a long time, and with the help of the man (its alot of work for only one set of hands!) we made a really pleasant dinner, that was both filling and reasonably healthy, (whole wheat flour and sweet potatoes keep me thinking that a bowl of potatoes, dressed in butter and a little thyme make a fairly healthy dinner...as opposed to a bowl of traditional gnocchi anyway) Gnocchi itself isn't very hard, really and if you maintain an organized level of chaos, its not too bad on ones kitchen either.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi
Adapted from Double Delicious, by Jessica Seinfeld


1 3/4 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 cup sweet potato puree
1 large egg, and 1 egg white
1/4 cup grated Romano cheese
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup of all purpose flour

In a mixing bowl combine ricotta cheese, potato puree, eggs,cheese, baking powder, and salt. In a smaller mixing bowl, combine both flours, and mix into wet mix all at the same time. Mix until the flour is incorporated and the color of the dough is uniform (no streaky orange)
Separate the dough into eight sections. Flour your work surface (I used more whole wheat flour) and roll the dough into foot long, inch high logs. Cut the dough with a fork into 1 inch by 1 inch morsels, lightly rolling the fork over one side of the pieces, creating a grooved side. Continue until you have no more dough.

At this point I seperated half of the gnocchi, froze them on a parchment lined baking sheet and later, transfered them to a freezer bag.


Fill a large pot with water, salt it generously and bring it up to a boil. Add the gnocchi, stirring very gently and cook until it just floats sim them off the top with a small mesh strainer, continuing to stir gingerly until all the gnocchi have come up to the surface and been skimmed out. We served these dressed in a little butter and sprinkled with thyme. Perfect comfort food. More...

Roasted Kale and more Eggplant

In the middle of a week of cold rain, I've been wrestling with a cold. My ‘first of the season’, as they say...except its usually much further into the 'season' IF I get sick at all. This one is a doozy, its been a week since I first started feeling it, and its not giving up yet. Not an evening has passed where I have seen ten o'clock, more often than not, I'm asleep by nine. As a result, the eating and cooking going on in our kitchen has been limited. Over the weekend we ate salads, sandwiches, and leftover meatballs. Monday night we ate baguette, cheese, and an heirloom tomato while standing at the butcher block. (not the worst of our dinners I assure you). Tuesday I was determined to do something with our produce, and to turn on the oven to chase away the chilly air hanging around our house. Something hearty and healthy, that was also warm and comforting. Enter the roasted vegetables.

I've waxed nostalgic about eggplant before, but last night this eggplant was not destined for stir-fry or any kind of Asian application. I needed something a bit closer to home. Kale is another comfort food of mine, a hold over from early college vegetarian adventures. We eat it often, and even the man was heard to utter "I love kale" last night. Do you know what made the difference for him?

I roasted it.


Yup. After reading all those blog posts about kale chips, I succumbed. I didn't roast it to a chip level, only enough to reduce it (by almost a third) and to crisp its edges. The flavor is deepened, and it retains its texture. Prior to roasting it I tossed it in olive oil and crushed red pepper, which gave it quite a bite. All in all I probably used a bit too much since I have cold and my taste buds are off, so if you don’t like spicy, I would suggest halving the red pepper, or omitting it completely. The eggplant I roasted whole, turning the formerly dark, firm vegetable to something that resembled a giant raisin. (I find a bread pan worked really well, you don’t have to worry that your aubergine is going to roll out of its pan and into your oven) Once roasted our purple friend slips out of his skin very easily. Mashed slightly and combined with a bit of pasta water, lemon zest and a small handful of fluffy grated Romano (use a micro planer, you will get a very fine, quick dissolving shred) he makes a lovely, (if not slightly grey,) and toothsome sauce. What could be better to dress some whole-wheat penne? You can pile the quickly roasted kale up on top of your little eggplant-sauced pasta, and pretend for an instant, that its acceptable to eat your dinner while standing in front of the open oven door.



Roasted Kale and Eggplant ‘Sauce’
Serves four (or two, with lunches)


1 medium eggplant

½ bunch of kale washed and torn to quasi-bite size chunks (keep in mind it shrinks)

½ box whole wheat penne cooked to package instructions, ½ cup of pasta water reserved

¼ cup olive oil divided

Zest of a small lemon

¼ cup finely grated / shredded romano cheese

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Kosher salt, to taste

Black pepper to taste

Coat eggplant in a tablesppon of oil, salt and pepper and roast for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

When the eggplant begins to resemble a giant raisin, toss kale in olive oil, salt peeper and crushed red pepper, lay on a baking sheet and roast for 5 minutes. Remove the veggies from the oven. In a large bowl, cut the top from your eggplant and remove the skin by peeling it back in strips, it should come off very easily. Using a wooden spoon combine the roasted eggplant flesh, zest, and cheese. It should be a rather ugly, greyish paste. Thin as desired with pasta water, and combine with hot pasta. Top with a healthy pile of roasted kale.

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Arugula Pesto Pasta and the MBTA

The other night after a particularly hellish 2-hour delay on my commute courtesy of the MBTA, I finally arrived home at almost 8pm starving, cranky, and generally full of rainbows. Thankfully I had the presence of mind (psychic powers?) before boarding the train to pick up a magazine. Since I avidly read Last Night's Dinner, (cooking her way through Melissa Clark's 'No Sweat' feature,) I decided to give Rachael Ray's August magazine a try. Sometime around when they were evacuating the train one stop before mine, I found dinner in its pages.

We had a rather large handful (handfuls?) of arugula left over from the salad the other night, and I scored some basil and a smallish tomato from the garden of a family member (cat sitting and plant watering has its perks!) In our fridge there were a few slices of capicola, which took the place of the bacon, after a slice and a turn in a hot pan.

I made a half batch of the sauce, because we were low on arugula, and subbed in some Romano cheese for the Parmesan, (it's a personal preference thing, go with your gut on it). I made mine a bit thinner with pasta water, due to the fact that I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing, but it came out tasty anyway.

The sauce went over some wheat pasta. Shells, because that was what was hanging around the pantry at eye level when the water was boiled. The capicola was sprinkled on top, after it got just a bit crispy around the edges. I ignored the asparagus, because the man hates asparagus, (don't even get him started on swiss chard, because that is not to come within 5 feet of him) and I swapped out the fresh ricotta for a quick tomato salad (chunk tomatoes, mix with torn herbs - parsley, rosemary, and basil in this case, and drizzle with oil and vinegar ) which I sat directly on top of my steamy pasta. This particular version of pesto is a definite hit, around here because the arugula has a pleasant bite and freshness that knocks the basil back a bit. I was left wishing that I had made more pesto to stick in a jar and eat later (maybe with a spoon).

Yesterday, sick of shooting from the hip at dinner time I trudged to the grocery store. Check in later this week for something (hopefully) really delicious.

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