Sweet Potato Gnocchi

4 medium sweet potatoes ( about 350g each)

260g plain flour

Egg yolk. 1

1 tbs olive oil

kosher salt

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius.

Place 2 sweet potatoes (unpeeled) on a baking tray. Use a fork to pierce the sweet potatoes all over. Place in the oven.

Meanwhile, line a baking tray with baking paper.

Peel the remaining sweet potatoes and cut into 2 cm squares.

Place on the lined tray, drizzle over the olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt.

Bake in the oven at the same time as the 2 whole sweet potatoes.

Turn occasionally and bake for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown and tender. Once cooked remove the sweet potato cubes from the oven and place in a serving bowl.

The whole sweet potatoes will need to be turned occasionally and will take about 1 hour to become tender.

Remove from the oven, once tender and set aside on the tray for at least 30 minutes to cool.

Once cooled, peel the whole sweet potatoes and place the flesh in a bowl.

Use a potato masher or fork and mash until smooth.

Add the flour to the mashed sweet potato.

Season well with salt.

Mix until well combined using a spoon.

Place 1/4 of the mixture on a lightly floured surface sand roll it out into a 2cm thick log and push to the edge of the floured surface furthest away from you to make room for you to work on the next log.

Repeat until all of the mixture has been turned into logs.

Bring a large saucepan of water to boil over high heat.

Season well with salt.Use a small sharp knife to cut each log into 2- 3 cm lengths of gnocchi.

Working in small batches, give the gnocchi a final shape using wet hands. I like a pudgy cube shape. This final shaping is the tricky bit. I have found that with quite wet hands you can roll and shape each piece of gnocchi to the desired shape without adding more flour. The more flour you add, the more stodgy the gnocchi will become. If you have a lot of flour on the outer edges of your gnocchi they can become slimy when cooked.

Place each small batch of the gnocchi in a cup measure or ladle or very large spoon.

Add each small batch of gnocchi to the boiling water and cook for 3-4 minutes or until the gnocchi rise to the surface of the saucepan.

Transfer to a heatproof bowl using a slotted spoon, keep covered to keep them warm.

Repeat with the remain gnocchi.

Serve with easy Italian tomato sauce and the roasted cubes of sweet potato and parmesan cheese.

Try this with shop bought gnocchi or penne to reduce effort.

This also works served with basil oil and or basil pesto.

My children really enjoy this with the tomato sauce and basil oil but try this with a chilli spinach and bacon sauce for adults.

Try this served with a desert spoon of ricotta cheese at the table.

To avoid slimy gnocchi i tend to roll, cut and cook each dough sausage at a time and then keep the cooked gnocchi warm in a bowl with a lid placed on top or serve each batch straight away.