Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Gnocchi

I invited myself over to someone else's house for dinner the other day. I offered to make the dinner, so hopefully I didn't totally put the hostess out. But I'm still aware that I committed a slight indiscretion, in asking to take over someone's kitchen, shuffle their pots and pans around, and then spend ten minutes photographing the food before we could eat.

But I like to think that inviting oneself over is okay if you're bringing gnocchi. Having received this gluten-free gnocchi recipe from a trusted coworker (her own food blog, In Fine Fettle, is forthcoming), I had an inkling it would be delicious. And so it was: warm pillows of sweet potato, crust crisped by olive oil, and hit with a double dose of basil—some in the gnocchi itself, some in the pesto dolloped on top. The dish is pretty, soul-warming, and, I think, welcome regardless of who invited whom to the table.

Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Gnocchi

Ingredients:
1 large, 2 medium or 3 small sweet potatoes
1 egg
1 cup garbanzo bean flour or garbanzo-fava bean flour (I used the latter)
1 cup arrowroot, gluten-free all-purpose baking mix, potato starch or tapioca (I used all-purpose mix)
1 TBSP dried basil
1 tsp. salt
2 TBSP olive or coconut oil
pesto for serving

Directions:
--Use a knife to cut several slits in the sweet potatoes. Bake at 400 degrees F for 45 minutes or until easily pierced with a fork. When cool enough to touch, remove skins and mash up potato flesh. Mix in egg. Add flours, dried basil, and salt and mix until cohesive.
--Flour a large flat surface. Remove a golf-ball sized piece of the dough and roll between your hands into a rope. Cut rope in 1-inch pieces; lay on a floured pan. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
--Set a large pot of water to boil Add gnocchi to boiling water in 3 batches. Watch for gnocchi to rise to top and cook for 2 minutes once risen. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to a pan or plate.
--Warm up oil in pan, add to pan and cook 3 minutes or until the gnocchi becomes crispy and brown.