A few weeks ago, Victor made sweet potato gnocchi. We had no plans for it other than freezing for use at another date and time.

Today was that day and time.

There is something about homemade pasta that really can’t be adequately described. It’s over-the-top good – and infinitely better than the fresh pasta you can buy at the grocery store. It just works on every level.

Pasta is relatively easy to make. It takes a bit of practice to get the feel of the dough and the final shapes you want, but even weird looking pasta tastes excellent! You don’t need special tools or equipment, although a pasta roller – one of the best ones you can get is only $79.99 at Fante’s – is really the only way to fly if you’re going to make pasta on a regular basis. And a simple gnocchi board is easier than a fork – although we made gnocchi and rolled it off a fork for years with no problems.

Victor’s sweet potato gnocchi is an eyeball recipe.

A baked sweet potato that has been riced, an egg, salt & pepper, and flour. The flour is the wild card. You mix the sweet potato and egg together with a bit of S&P, and then start adding small amounts of flour – just enough to hold it all together and have a smooth dough. Not a lot.

Form pieces into a rope, cut them into individual pieces, and form them off the tines of a fork or with a gnocchi board – $4.99, also at Fante’s.

They’re light and delicate – not the belly bombs you buy packaged at the store. These are good.

The sauce tonight was a rework of the butternut squash soup Victor made on Friday. I cut up two links of andouille sausage – cleaning out that freezer – and browned it a bit in a saucepan. I added a chopped zucchini and then about a half-cup of white wine. When it cooked down a bit, I added the soup. It was nice and thick, so the wine made it just the perfect consistency.

I cooked the gnocchi, mixed it with the sauce, and dinner was served.