Sweet Potato Gnocchi With Kale Pesto And Pine Nuts

I love the idea of sweet spud gnocchi. It would make a fantastic date meal – I mean, you could really wow someone special with this dish. The idea for this came to me – wait for this – in a dream! I kid you not, I dream about food a lot. It’s crazy. But very handy when you write recipe books.

WHAT YOU NEED

• 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 250 g (1 cup) ricotta
• 250 g (21⁄2 cups) almond meal (and an extra 50 g in case the mixture needs thickening)
• extra-virgin olive oil
• 80 g (1⁄2 cup) pine nuts, toasted

KALE PESTO

• 2 cups chopped kale, stalks removed
• 1 garlic clove (or 2 if you like more of a garlic twang)
• 3 tablespoons hulled tahini (use unhulled if you prefer the flavour but I like the taste of hulled plus it’s a bit easier to digest due to the removal of phytic acid.
• Big handful of macadamia nuts, soaked for at least 1 hour, then rinsed
• 125 ml (1⁄2 cup) extra-virgin olive oil
• salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

What to do

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Boil the spuds for about 10–15 minutes, until you can poke a fork through and they’re really soft.
3. Drain the spuds, then pop them in a bowl and mash them with a potato masher or the back of a fork.
4. Add your ricotta and almond meal and mix into a dough – if it’s not holding together, add up to an extra 50 g (1⁄2 cup) of almond meal.
5. When you have a dough-like consistency, roll it into little balls. This mixture should make about 20 pieces. If you want to make them look fancy, then press the back of the fork into each piece.
6. Pop the gnocchi on the lined baking tray and drizzle with a nice glug of extra-virgin olive oil.
7. Bake the gnocchi for 20–25 minutes or until they’re golden, then set them aside.
8. While the gnocchi are cooking, whip up the kale pesto. Pop everything into a food processor. If you like it chunky, pulse a little bit – if you prefer it smoother, pulse it a bit more.
9. Serve up the gnocchi, pour over the pesto and sprinkle with the toasted pine nuts. And wow the socks off some special people!

SERVES 4

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