I’ve talked briefly about the Argentine tradition of serving gnocchi (ñoquis) on the 29th of each month here, in most detail in a review of an episode of MasterChef Argentina a few years back. It’s not limited to Argentina, and it’s relatively common in other countries down here, including our neighbor to the northeast, Brazil. A recent Instagram post from that amazing little wine bar we went to on our last visit to São Paulo, Enoteca Saint Van Saint, showcased a new menu item, described simply as “taro gnocchi, cilantro bechamel, nuts and fried kale”. It looked pretty and sounded delicious, and I started a bit of research, and planned out my dinner for the 29th, last week!

I’ve made gnocchi from all sorts of vegetables, but somehow, taro root never popped to mind. Turns out, it’s actually somewhat common in Brazil, and why not? It’s starchy like a potato, though has a very different flavor.

This, by the way, is not the recipe from the wine bar, but simply what I came up with as an idea. The end result looks totally different from their plate, which is fine, it was just an inspirational starting point, not an attempt to duplicate what they did. Here we have low gluten (cake or pastry) flour, the taro root peeled and then cubed, some salt, white pepper, and nutmeg, diced butter, and an egg yolk.

Boil the taro for about 10 minutes until soft, then spread out in a baking pan or sheet and put in a medium hot oven for about 10 minutes more to dry out.

Mix the flour, seasonings, and butter together like you would for a pie crust, the butter well rubbed in. Press the potatoes through a potato “ricer” (one of the few one-task kitchen implements that’s well worth having on hand for making mashes of starchy things), or you can mash it by hand, or even in a food processor – since it doesn’t have gluten, it won’t get gummy like a potato does. Mix it all together well, along with the egg yolk.

Don’t over knead it, because the flour does have some gluten in it. Just until it all comes together in a smooth, homogenous dough. Let it sit, covered, for 15-20 minutes to relax the gluten you have developed.

Roll out ropes of dough about 2cm in diameter, cut into pieces, and roll them down a gnocchi maker if you have one, or the tines of a fork, or simply press them with a fork, to create ridges to help hold the sauce. Cover them with a towel and let sit until you’re ready to cook them off. By the way, a small taro root like what I had there, about a pound in weight, made enough for four portions of gnocchi, so since I was cooking for just myself (did I mention Henry headed off to Peru to spend the next 2-3 months with his family?), I laid the rest of the gnocchi on a silicon baking sheet and put it in the freezer, and then once they were frozen, I put them in portions into ziploc bags – freezing them first separately avoids having them stick together.

Make the sauce – a simple basic bechamel. Over low heat, cook butter, flour, salt, pepper, and nutmeg together for about five minutes. Then add milk and bring to a simmer to thicken.

Add a handful of cilantro leaves (or, another herb, if you don’t like cilantro).

And, blend together. I have a stick blender so just did it in the pot, but you could pour it in to a regular blender too. Adjust seasoning and keep warm.

Get a pot of salted water boiling and around the same time you start doing the “garnish”, drop the gnocchi into the water. Officially, everyone says, when they float, they’re ready. I’ve never found that to be true, and I was taught long ago, to wait 30-45 seconds after they float before scooping them out, just to make sure they cook through to the center. Much of that probably depends on the size of the gnocchi, smaller ones are probably ready when they float.

Over medium high heat, melt some butter and add chopped brazil nuts (or whatever you prefer – the word used in the Instagram post could refer to chestnuts, hazelnuts, or brazil nuts, I went with the last, because… Brazil), and some finely chopped garlic.

When lightly golden, add some chopped kale, salt, and pepper, and cook until it’s wilted.

Scoop the gnocchi out of the water and straight into the pan, tossing well. I cooked them for about a minute and a half, just enough to start getting a hint of browning on some of their edges.

Put a pool of the warm sauce on a plate, and top with the gnocchi sauté! Yum, yum, yum. I’d make this again and again. And you know what, the same idea would work just fine with “standard” potato gnocchi.

Just by way of comparison, this is the version that Enoteca Saint Van Saint offered up on their Instagram feed (they’ve showcase a couple of new versions since, each one a bit different). They made much smaller gnocchi, coated them in the sauce, which also appears to have a lot less cilantro, and then decorated with some deep fried kale leaves and it appears, very few nuts. I haven’t tried theirs, but I like mine!