Balsamic Glazed Sweet Potatoes

Well, it's finally starting to seem like Fall. I'm drinking Hot Apple Cider and the Spinach Salads are gone from my lunch bag. It's starting to cool down in the Valley and people are wearing hoodies and boots.

It's nice this time of year, when the weather is perfect. The trees are turning colors back in Atlanta, it's cold back in England. All of my homes are starting to shift towards the cooler, quieter winter time.

And me? I'm happy. I've let go of a lot of things that made me unhappy and embraced a lot of things that feel good and right. I'm taking my life back. I'm doing things that I want to do. I'm putting myself and my family first.

It's good.

I had a really epic clumsy three days where I kept dropping things or injuring myself. I lost five eggs and a vintage mixing bowl in the aftermath, and for a day or so I was pretty sure I had broken my own nose. I swear the doorframe in my bathroom jumped out at me. I've got my eye on the pesky little bugger.

I know I haven't been around as much. I know I saw that every time. I'm making changes in my life and it's taking lots of time.

I'm also making things like Balsamic Glazed Sweet Potatoes, because they are absolutely delicious.

Balsamic Glazed Sweet Potatoes

3 Small Sweet Potatoes, peeled
1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
2 1/2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
Salt

Preheat the oven to 400F. Peel your sweet potatoes. I used a mix of yellow and white, because that is what I had on hand. Once peeled, dice them up and put them in a bowl. Add the sugar, oil and vinegar and mix well. Turn out onto a non-stick cookie sheet, preferably lined with Sil-Pat. Grind over a generous helping of salt.

Roast in the oven for 40 minutes until turning dark and crispy. Stir them every ten minutes or so to try and stop them from sticking and so that they cook evenly.

Eat with some sliced turkey or chicken, or just on their own out of a bowl.

Makes four servings.

Potato Gnocchi

I'm deep in the middle of a bunch of projects right now. Time really doesn't feel like it belongs to me. When I get super busy, I tend to just pile more and more things on my plate. I decided this last weekend that regardless of the looming deadlines, I was going to have some kitchen and friend time, dammit. So, over came Myles to help me out with some deliberate non-working.

Did you know that Gnocchi can be made with just two ingredients? TWO! Seriously, it's potatoes and flour and it's soooo delicious. I started making it a few years ago. My first foray into gnocchi was a bit of a disaster. I made Sweet Potato Gnocchi for Thanksgiving one year. I didn't think to roll the dough into little ropes and cut it, so I was just pulling big chunks off the ball of dough. Everything was uneven and way too big, mostly because as I was getting impatient and making the balls bigger and bigger as I went along. When we ate them, they were horribly dense and chewy.

I loved the idea, though, and have made gnocchi many times since then, with much better technique, though my pieces never come out quite even.

Making gnocchi is easy. You combine cooked potato with flour, then boil it in salty water, put a little butter in a pan and then saute it until the outside is a little crisp. You get a little bite on the outside, and inside is a dreamy, gooey potato dumpling. Served with a flavorful sauce, it's quite the impressive dish. It's especially wonderful eaten with a good friend for a weekend lunch, accompanied by a refreshing cocktail and followed by a trip to the pool.

Potato Gnocchi

I highly recommend using yukon gold potatoes if you can, or another smaller thin skinned potato. It will give you the best results.

1lb Yukon Gold Potatoes, peeled
1 Cup Flour, sifted

Peel your potatoes, then dice them. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to boil, then cook the potatoes in it for about 20 minutes until they are completely tender. Drain the potatoes really well.

In you have a ricer, use this to rice the potatoes, if not, press the potatoes through the holes in a metal colander into a large mixing bowl. You want a nice fluffy mound. Sift the flour over the potatoes, then mix to form a ball of dough. It might be a tiny bit sticky. If you didn't get enough water out of your potatoes when you drained them, I recommend adding just a smidge more flour, but go easy else the gnocchi will come out heavy.

Bring another pan of really salty water to the boil. On a clean surface, roll out some of the gnocchi dough into a rope. It should be about 3/4 of an inch wide. With a sharp knife, slice of dough at one inch intervals. Roll across the tines of a fork and make a ridgey dent (very technical term, I know) in the dumplings, as shown here:

Drop the gnocchi into the boiling salty water for a minute or two. They are done when the float to the surface. Pull them out and drain them as soon as they start to float, they will have swelled up.

In a shallow saute pan, melt a tablespoon or two of butter and add the gnocchi. Saute until they get some color on them, this will make the outside a little crispy.

Serve with a great sauce, like a beurre blanc or a white cheese sauce. Maybe a side of asparagus and some bruschetta too. Devour shamelessly.

Makes about 4 servings.