Sweet potato gnocchi with spiced aubergine ragout
Making your own gnocchi can be surprisingly simple, and this recipe by Ixta Belfrage makes for a satisfying weeknight dinner. Sweet potato is used as the base for the gnocchi, which is then stirred through a rich, glossy aubergine sauce. Serve with plenty of grated parmesan and zingy lemon zest.
Ixta says: "Making gnocchi from scratch can be a bit of a faff, but this recipe keeps things simple. It serves two, as I rarely make gnocchi for a crowd, but you can easily scale it up. In Brazil, batata doce - sweet potato - is the variety with the pink skin and yellow interior - in the UK it's sometimes known as 'Japanese sweet potato' or 'red sweet potato'. This is the variety I grew up with and love; it's less sweet than the orange variety.
To bind the gnocchi and to keep them gluten-free, I've used masa harina, which is a type of nixtamalized corn flour used in Mexican cooking. It's not traditionally used in Brazilian cuisine, but it works really well here and keeps the gnocchi gluten-free.
Japanese or red sweet potatoes can be found in most greengrocers and Caribbean markets. Use regular orange sweet potatoes if you can't get hold of them."
Ingredients
Metric
Imperial
Gnocchi
- 500g of sweet potato, with pink skin and yellow interior
- 1 egg yolk
- 50g of masa harina
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper, plenty
- freshly grated nutmeg, plenty
Ragout
- 2 medium aubergines, 500g
- 2 tbsp of olive oil, plus extra for greasing
- 10g of basil leaves, plus extra to serve
- 15g of salted butter
- 1 1/2 tbsp of tomato purée, or paste
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 3/4 tsp medium curry powder
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/4 tsp chilli flakes
- freshly ground black pepper, plenty
- freshly grated nutmeg, plenty
To serve
- grated Parmesan, (or vegetarian equivalent)
- zest of 1 lemon
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C fan/220°C. Line a baking tray with parchment paper
Leaving the skin on, cut the sweet potatoes into 170g pieces
- 500g of sweet potato, with pink skin and yellow interior
Halve the aubergines lengthways. Lightly brush the cut sides with oil and place them cut side down on the tray with the potatoes
- 2 medium aubergines, 500g
- 2 tbsp of olive oil, plus extra for greasing
Bake until the aubergines are soft and well browned on the bottom and the sweet potatoes are soft all the way through. This should take about 45–50 minutes
Remove from the oven and cut slits in the potato pieces to help them cool
While the potatoes are cooling, make the ragout. Scoop the aubergine flesh into a large frying pan off the heat (discard the skins). Add all the remaining ragout ingredients. Place on a medium heat and cook for 4 minutes, stirring throughout. Set aside off the heat
- 10g of basil leaves, plus extra to serve
- 15g of salted butter
- 1 1/2 tbsp of tomato purée, or paste
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 3/4 tsp medium curry powder
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/4 tsp chilli flakes
- freshly ground black pepper, plenty
- freshly grated nutmeg, plenty
Scoop the sweet potato flesh into a bowl (discard the skin) and mash well to get rid of any lumps. You should have about 300g of mash. Add the egg yolk, masa harina, salt, pepper and nutmeg and mix very well
- 1 egg yolk
- 50g of masa harina
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper, plenty
- freshly grated nutmeg, plenty
Prepare a tray lined with parchment. Lightly grease the parchment with olive oil. Use 2 tablespoons to form pointed ovals of the gnocchi dough, placing them on the tray as you go
Bring a pot of well-salted water to the boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat so the water is gently simmering. Add the gnocchi and cook until they all float to the top, about 4 minutes
Use a slotted spoon to transfer the gnocchi to the ragout pan, along with about 100g of the cooking water. Place the pan on a medium heat and cook for a few minutes, gently stirring to combine the gnocchi with the sauce
Finish with grated Parmesan, lemon zest, pepper, nutmeg, a drizzle of oil and more flaked salt if you like
- grated Parmesan, (or vegetarian equivalent)
- zest of 1 lemon
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