At Little D’s in Asheville, N.C., sous chef Faith Hall purées roasted sweet potato, spreads it on a sheet pan and cooks it to remove all the moisture. Then it’s mixed with ricotta cheese that has been pressed to remove moisture, as well as cinnamon, allspice, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg, and rolled into balls. He sautés the gnocchi in a cast-iron skillet until it turns golden brown and forms a thin crust. Then he adds a pinch of minced garlic and cooks it until it’s golden brown and then deglazes the pan with white wine. Next he adds butter to form a sauce that glazes the gnocchi.
Separately, he makes a “Southern Chili Crunch” makes by frying garlic, shallot, and jalapeño peppers in vegetable oil, and then adding that to another pan with sugar, smoked paprika, chili powder, cayenne pepper, red chile flake, black pepper, and salt along with a cinnamon stick and star anise.
He also makes a bacon jam by simmering Benton’s Hams bacon with sugar and Sumatra coffee from Dynamite Roasters.
He plates the gnocchi over a traditional onion soubise sauce and her Southern Chili Crunch, along with Brussels sprouts leaves, a drizzle of molasses, and the bacon jam.
Price: $14