Butternut Squash Gnocchi

Our weekly CSA deliveries have included a squash each week for the past while. It hasn't taken long for us to be overrun with squash. A few weeks ago I carved into a giant butternut squash for a recipe and I have had the remaining squash hanging out in the fridge taking up room ever since. I was determined to take care of it yesterday.

While checking out recipes using google, this one popped up. It's by Lidia Bastianich who certainly knows a thing or 79000 about Italian food. Gnocchi are various thick, soft dough dumplings that may be made from semolina, ordinary wheat flour, egg, cheese, potato, breadcrumbs, or similar ingredients. Gnocchi can be light as air or heavy and doughy. When I have attempted to make them at home they have fallen into the latter category. SIGH

This type of gnocchi is a speciality of Friuli - the northern region of Italy that borders Slovenia and Austria. It is a mountainous region known for it's food (of course, which region in Italy is NOT known for it's food?) This particular recipe hails from Trattoria Da Tonia a restaurant many list as one of the best in the region.

The gnocchi were easy to make - the only challenging part was remembering that the recipe requires two days of prep - on the first day you roast the squash and set it to drain. One the second day you make and cook the gnocchi. These gnocchi were light - almost too light as some broke apart in the boiling water . . . likely because we had more than a 1 1/2 pound squash. Nonetheless they tasted amazing!

We served these with a butter sage sauce. It is one of the easiest, and we think tastiest, pasta sauce. You just melt a stick of butter, toss in some chopped fresh sage (can you believe I still have fresh sage in the garden in December?????), let it sit for while the gnocchi is cooking. When the gnocchi are ready toss them in the butter sauce and serve with a heavy flurry of freshly grated parmigiano reggiano (no green can of Kraft here folks!!!)

It's a simple but complex dish -so typical of Italian food.  Because it has few flavourings the quality of your ingredients will really make or break things here.

Butternut Squash Gnocchi

1 butternut squash , about 1 1/2 pounds
2 eggs, beaten
1¼ teaspoons salt
1½ cups flour

Starting the night before, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Halve the squash, scoop out the seeds, wrap it loosely in foil, place on a baking sheet, and bake until tender when pierced, about 35 minutes.

Scoop out and discard the seeds. With a large spoon, scoop the pulp from the skin directly into a fine sieve. Set the sieve over a bowl to catch the liquids, cover and allow the squash to drain overnight in the refrigerator.

Next day, puree the squash in a food processor, transfer the puree to a large bowl, and add the eggs and salt. Mix well, add the flour, and blend thoroughly. The dough should be soft and quite sticky.

Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Using a teaspoon, scoop up some of the dough (about a walnut-size piece) and use a finger to slide it into the water. Cook the gnocchi in batches of ten to fifteen, poaching them for 2 minutes after the rise to the surface. Remove them with a slotted spoon. Set them aside to drain, and repeat the process until the remaining dough is used up.

Comments

[Katie Zeller]

The only gnocchi I've made is with fresh pumpkin. I have a few butternut squash left in my cellar, I think I'll do this. I've done just about everything else with them lol. Oh... they work well in Moroccan tagines if you haven't done that yet.

[peppylady (Dora)]

I usual bake or steam my squash.
Coffee is on

[JDeQ]

Katie - I imagine that the pupkin and squash gnocchi must taste very similar.

Dora - I have a squash baking in the oven right now. :-) Great minds ...