Gnocchi for Babies
I love cooking vegetables in different forms. I wanted to make gnocchi with a new flavor. Sweet potato gnocchi is nothing new. I wanted to change things up a little from the recipes you see everywhere by adding sweet potato, cheese (again!) as well as basil, an herb we love at home.
For the cheese, I used dry mozzarella (ready to cook; I bought it at Monoprix, but you can find it almost anywhere in the refrigerated section) because the tricky thing with gnocchi is that they are hard to shape if the vegetables contain too much water after cooking.
So I wanted to avoid adding even more moisture with the mozzarella. You can absolutely swap this cheese for another firm cheese, such as Comté or Parmesan.
I listed this recipe from 11 months, which is an average age for starting pieces of food (some babies start much earlier, others much later; there is no rule, only averages ;)). You can absolutely offer this type of meal (under supervision, of course) to a younger child if they are comfortable with pieces, making the gnocchi large enough so they need to bite them themselves.
Do not serve the gnocchi whole. Have baby bite into them if they already have teeth, or cut them into small pieces before serving.
Here is what you need to prepare this pan-fried sweet potato, mozzarella and basil gnocchi recipe for baby (from 11 months, makes about 30 gnocchi):
Ingredients
Preparation
We are going to start by preparing the sweet potato. Wash it, peel it and cut it into thin slices.
Then steam it for 10 minutes. Let’s go! (I get a lot of questions about the silicone steamer basket I use. I love it; I’ve had it for 4 years now! This is the one.).
Once the cooking is done, place the sweet potato slices in a mixing bowl, then mash them with a fork until there are no pieces left at all.
Let the mashed sweet potato cool for about 10 to 15 minutes.
Once the sweet potato has cooled, we can prepare the gnocchi dough. Add the cornstarch, then the flour.
Next, add the mozzarella and the fresh basil, washed and finely chopped beforehand.
Now we can start mixing. You’ll see that the dough will be slightly sticky; add a little flour if needed when shaping the gnocchi.
The gnocchi dough is ready (the funny thing is that when I took a photo of the dough in my bowl, I thought the colors would not show up at all, and, well, they really do not show up at all :D).
After flouring a cutting board, shape 2 small logs of gnocchi dough by rolling the dough under your hands. (I make 2 logs to fit the width of the board, unless you have a very, very large cutting board ;)).
Once the logs are ready, cut small pieces with a knife to make about 30 gnocchi.
At this point, you can start bringing water to a boil in a saucepan to cook the gnocchi.
Roll each piece between your hands to make small oval balls. This is also when you can add a little more flour if needed.
Finally, make pretty marks with a fork (by rolling the gnocchi; it is a slightly technical move, and it is purely decorative!) on each little sweet potato gnocchi.
Cooking
The gnocchi are ready to cook. Drop them into the boiling water. They float to the surface once they are ready, after about 2 minutes of cooking.
Once cooked, place the gnocchi on paper towels (this is optional and a personal preference; I do not really like the damp texture after cooking).
You can absolutely stop here, or pan-fry them for a few minutes on each side to give the gnocchi a golden, crispy finish!
Lightly oil a very hot pan, add the gnocchi, and brown them over medium heat for about 1 to 2 minutes on each side.
The gnocchi are ready! You can serve them as they are, or with a little tomato sauce, and add a little grated Parmesan on top (the cheese fan strikes again :D).
Baby and the whole family are going to enjoy these! Feel free to leave a little review if you make them; it is always a pleasure to read your feedback 🙂
Enjoy!
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