Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Callaloo

Our presentation to the Missions Committee of our church went well. Neal did an excellent job and I sat back and listened for the most part. I am not sure when we will know what they decided about being our sending church, but we wait eagerly to hear.

I also have a meeting in a couple of hours at bestsister's house (yah!) to discuss the survey we handed out to the moms who attend HIGH Day each Monday, which bestsister and I are Directors of. The other two Directors will join us and we will do some brain-storming and tea drinking to figure out what the moms liked and what we need to change ... again. This year was a blast, truly, and I am glad to have been a part of a homeschool co-op this year. Last year? Truthfully, not so much, but instead of whining about it and wishing it were different, to meet more of the moms needs, I stepped up to the plate and implemented change. Not alone, of course, but as a group I feel we were able to tap into the needs of this generation of homeschool families and really hear what they needed the group to be.

Today, for lunch, we began experimenting with the foods we will have readily available in the Islands Region of PNG ... Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Callaloo (or in our case, spinach that we already had).

1 Tbsp vegetable oil
4 large callaloo (taro) leaves ... or a bunch of spinach
1 sweet potato
1/4 cup shredded cheese
2 Tbsp butter
1 egg yolk
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1/4 to 1/2 cup flour
1 cup milk (or less, like we used)
Heat the oil and add the callaloo, cooking until soft adding water as needed to keep it from sticking. Remove and leave to cool.

Boil the sweet potato, peel and mash with the cheese, butter and egg yolk. Season with salt and pepper. Add the nutmeg.

Add half the cooked callaloo and combine. Add the flour, a little at a time, until you can form a soft dough. (here I wondered if the spinach would have been better left uncooked as it added a fair bit of extra liquid and the gnocchi ended up moister than regular potato gnocchi would have been)

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Add salt if you wish.

Divide the sweet potato mixture into 4 pieces. Roll each piece into a log about 1 inch thick and cut into 3/4 inch pieces, or so. Drop the pieces into the boiling water and cook until they float to the surface. Remove and drain.

Pour the milk into a saucepan, bringing to a boil, adding salt, pepper some more nutmeg the rest of the callaloo and cheese, cooking until thick. (ours never did thicken due to the excess moisture present in the spinach so we didn't use the sauce). Spoon over the gnocchi and serve.