The Community Paper

Local Flavor with Scott Joseph: Sweet Potato Gnocchi from Greg Richie at Soco Thornton Park


 

Skillet filled with sweet potato gnocchi shows prepared recipe

Soco Thornton Park’s chef/partner Greg Richie shared his southern contemporary Sweet Potato Gnocchi recipe. (Photo courtesy of Greg Richie)

 

Scott Joseph

Soco Thornton Park has become a fixture of downtown dining, thanks to the cuisine of chef/partner Greg Richie. Here he shares the recipe for his Sweet Potato Gnocchi, which is a perfect example of the restaurant’s style of southern contemporary, from which the name Soco is derived.

SWEET POTATO GNOCCHI

The dough:
8 ounces roasted sweet potato (weight of cooked potato, no skins)
1 egg yolk
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
Dash nutmeg
5–6 ounces flour

To roast sweet potatoes, wrap them in foil and bake at 350 degrees for about an hour until tender. Peel and slice potatoes into ½-inch pieces.

Puree all ingredients except flour in a food processor.

Transfer to a medium-sized mixing bowl.

Sift 5 ounces of the flour into the potatoes.

Gently mix until just combined. Don’t overmix or gluten will develop and make the dough get tough.

Dough should be slightly moist but not too sticky. If it feels too wet, add some of the remaining ounce of flour.

Working with a little bit of dough at a time, roll into foot-long, nickel-thick “snakes.”

Once rolled out, sprinkle liberally with flour and cut the gnocchi into 3/4-inch-long pieces.

Sprinkle more flour onto cut gnocchi and gently toss them with a dough scraper, coating them in the flour. (Using a dough scraper will help keep the gnocchi from sticking together.)

Scoop gnocchi onto floured parchment paper.

To cook, gently slide gnocchi into lightly salted boiling water and cook until they float, about 1-2 minutes. Remove and place in cold water to stop the cooking process, then drain and hold for the next step.

The rest:
3 strips of smoked bacon (optional) or 1 tablespoon butter
10 large collard green leaves
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 shallot segments, minced

Slice the bacon into thin strips. Cook on medium-low heat until it begins to get crispy.

While bacon is cooking, julienne cut the collard green leaves.

Add garlic and shallot to the rendering bacon (or sauté in 1 tablespoon of butter) and let them get golden in color and cooked.

Add collards to the pan. Cook until tender.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Reserve.

To serve:
1 tablespoon butter
Cheese sauce
Breadcrumbs
Grated parmesan

Heat the oven to 450 F.

In a sauté pan, sear the gnocchi in 1 tablespoon melted butter until golden.

Add the collards, then toss in some cheese sauce to bring it all together. (Richie recommends using the cheese packet that comes in boxed macaroni and cheese — but don’t use the pasta.)

Transfer to a casserole dish, then top with breadcrumbs and grated parmesan.

Bake at 450 degrees for a few minutes, just enough to brown the top.

(Recipe from Soco Thornton Park Chef/Partner Greg Richie)

To find recipes from other local restaurants, check out the Local Flavor with Scott Joseph section on The Community Paper website and follow ScottJosephOrlando.com to read reviews and stay up to date on Orlando restaurant news.

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