While I wasn’t sure how to pronounce the word, I knew that the little potato dumplings I just ordered off the menu at Golden View restaurant in Florence, Italy came smothered in a creamy gorgonzola sauce, and I couldn’t wait to take my first bite. That was my first time eating gnocchi, and I can truly say it was love at first bite. To this day, whenever I see it on a menu, I’m sure to order it.
A good sauce is essential to enjoying gnocchi. It can be as basic as freshly grated parmesan cheese and melted butter, a simple tomato and basil sauce, or something more complex. Traditionally gnocchi is served as a course by itself; despite being perfectly content with this, we decided to create a dish featuring this potato dumpling (sometimes referred to as a potato pasta) with a Caribbean twist.
This gnocchi recipe uses batata, which is very close to (if not the same as) the sweet potatoes you’ll find in Jamaica. And since one of the best ways to add some Jamaican flair to a dish is to use jerk seasoning, we decided to accompany our gnocchi with some sauteed jerk shrimp.
When you make this dish, pour yourself a nice tall glass of wine and plan to spend a couple of hours in the kitchen. Homemade gnocchi is not something you can rush, but this dish is certainly worth the time and effort!
If you make this dish, we’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Hashtag them #fromirietoitaly
Prep Time: 3 – 3.5 hours
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Serving Size: 6 servings
Jamaican sweet potato gnocchi with balsamic brown butter sauce
For our gnocchi and the sauce accompanying it, we followed this recipe, with a couple of minor modifications noted below:
- Substitute American sweet potatoes for Jamaican sweet potatoes (or batata)
- After scrubbing the potatoes, peel and cut them in half; place them in boiling water (instead of microwaving them) until cooked (approximately 20 – 25 minutes, depending on the size of your potato pieces).
- Used 1 ¼ cups of flour instead of the 2 ½ cups, since we did not use ricotta cheese.
Jerk shrimp
Ingredients:
1 ½ tablespoons Walker’s Wood Jerk Seasoning (Mild)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 lbs. medium-sized shrimp (defrosted and deveined)
Lime juice (or lemon juice)
Instructions:
1. Peel shrimp and place them in a mixing bowl; add lime (or lemon juice) and water. While the shrimp are in the bowl, use your fingers to massage the shrimp in the lime juice/water mixture.
2. Drain off the lime juice/water mixture and add the jerk seasoning to the bowl. Mix the shrimp in the jerk seasoning to ensure it is well-coated. Place in the refrigerator until you’re ready to cook the gnocchi*.
3. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
4. Add shrimp to the hot pan and cook for about 2-3 minutes on each side, turning once midway, until shrimp is pink and cooked through. Remove shrimp from the skillet.
5. Serve immediately with the gnocchi and balsamic brown butter sauce. Buon appetito!
* The gnocchi doesn’t take long to cook, so it’s best to add them to the boiling water once you’ve finished cooking the shrimp.
Jamaican sweet potato gnocchi with balsamic brown butter sauce looks scrumptious, along with the jerk shrimp! Yum!
I’ve been vegan for almost a year but I could try this with maybe jerk tofu on the side, instead of the shrimp?
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Aunty Marcia. I’m delighted to hear your initial thoughts on this dish and I think your suggestion on how to make this more vegan-friendly is a great one! With so many individuals adopting a vegan lifestyle nowadays, it’s good to know that with a few simple tweaks like what you’ve just mentioned, you can still enjoy all the robust flavors and textures this dish has to offer (so thanks for sharing 🙂 Another point to keep in mind is that we added a bit of ricotta cheese when making our gnocchi. While you can certainly substitute it for the non-dairy version, omitting it is also an option – it’s totally up to you. Either way, it’s definitely going to be a great meal!