I decided to get creative again this evening, and yet again, not a cookbook cracked. The second recipe in my would-be cookbook? Hmm...it's all coming together, isn't it? I decided that I liked the idea of concocting some sweet potato gnocchi, and incorporating the truffle oil into the recipe. To make truffle-scented sweet potato gnocchi, I slowly added the oil at different steps of the process to build on the flavor without becoming overbearing. While cooking the potatoes, I added a bit to the water. When I mixed the dough for the gnocchi, I added a bit more oil. I've made gnocchi before, so I won't go into detail, but I had to use more flour than I normally do because the consistency of a sweet potato is a bit less starchy. The dough became a bit goopy until I worked extra flour in, but it all came together. Like any dough, you just keep adding flour if its sticky, and water if its dry until you get the right consistency. If you don't want to make your own gnocchi, I happened to see sweet potato gnocchi for sale in the refrigerated section at Whole Foods the other day!
Once the gnocchi was made, I boiled some water to cook it. While I was waiting for the "watched pot," I added a stick of butter to a large saute pan, and a few sprigs of sage. I was going to make a sage butter to saute my gnocchi in once they were boiled. After the butter was melted, and had simmered for a few minutes, the aroma became very sage-y. At this point, I added some sliced sausage to the pan and allowed it to fry a bit in the butter. I had pre-cooked the sausages separately, pulled them off the heat before they were fully cooked, and allowed them to rest and cook the rest of the way. That way, they were still really nice and moist when I sliced them and added them back to the heat. I pulled the sage sprigs out at this point.
Once the gnocchi was all boiled, I added it to the sage butter and sausage and allowed all the flavors to meld and heat together. I poured just a dash more truffle oil in the pan and threw a large handful of arugula on top, as well as some chopped sage. After tossing things together, the arugula quickly began to wilt and I seasoned the meal with salt and pepper. Right before serving, toss the dish with a good heaping spoonful of Parmigiano-Reggiano. Plate and add a touch more Parmigiano (because you can never have too much!)
To recap, all you'll need is some salt and pepper, sage sprigs, a stick of butter, a handful of arugula, Parmigiano-Reggiano, a couple of nice quality sausage links, sweet potato gnocchi (truffle-scented, if you make it from scratch) and of course, TRUFFLE OIL! The oil really took this dish from delicious to decadent. Each ingredient added it's own bit of flavor to the dish and everything melded together really nicely. The sage added an earthiness, the arugula added some peppery bite, the sausage added some heartiness and the oil, well...the oil added decadence. I can't stress this enough...Definitely...try this at home!
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