Monday, April 25, 2011

Butternut squash gnocchi with spinach and herb pesto


Until I made this, I’d never attempted gnocchi before, but I’d done quite a bit of reading up on how to make them super tender and light to avoid the out of the packet rubberiness. This article from Heidi Swanson at 101 Cookbooks is fantastic. She talks about her best gnocchi recipe having no egg in at all, which I wasn’t quite ready for! However, I took her advice and I did use the bare minimum of egg to bind the dough. When you’ve made it up, it’ll be quite tacky (I think this is to do with the water content of the squash). At this point I was very scared – should I add more flour and risk them becoming chewy? But I pressed on, ignoring my instincts and worries, and the result was light and delicious.

I had quite a bit of spinach to use up so made some herb pesto warmed up with a hint of chilli, which paired perfectly with the squash. I used thyme and sage as I think they go really well with the nutty squash flavour, but you could use whatever herbs you’ve got.




For the gnocchi
350g potato and squash, cubed (I used about 275g squash with 75g potato, but use whatever you have)
½ egg, beaten
80-120g plain flour (the amount you need will depend on the water content of the squash)
salt

For the pesto
Spinach leaves, a couple of handfuls
2 cloves garlic
Olive oil
Lemon juice
A pinch of chilli
Herbs – sage and thyme (or any other combination you fancy)
Salt and pepper
(could also be great with walnuts too!)

Parmesan to serve

To start, steam the butternut squash and potato for about 10-12 minutes until they’re tender. Let them cool a little, then mash like mad until they’re really smooth. You can now add the flour, the egg and the salt, making sure you use as little flour as possible to make a smooth but tacky dough.

Roll out on a floured surface into little sausages and chop off bite-sized pieces. Make little impressions with a fork. Once you’ve used all the dough, cover the gnocchi and chill them while you make the pesto. Put a large pan of salted water on to boil.

Chop up the spinach and the garlic, and sweat them together in a little oil for a few minutes until the spinach wilts. Add the herbs, chilli and salt and pepper while it’s still hot, and mix well to incorporate the flavours. Once it’s cooled a little, transfer to a food processer (or use a pestle and mortar) and whiz a little until chopped finely. Drizzle in olive oil and lemon juice until it’s a thinner texture, tasting all the time.

Once the water is boiling, drop in the gnocchi – you might need to cook them in two batches depending on the size of your pan. Bring back to the boil - once they rise to the surface they’ll be perfect. Drain and toss them in the pesto and serve with a little grated parmesan.

3 comments:

  1. That looks delicious, I have never made gnocchi before but have always wanted to, I think I may have to try out your version!

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  2. This looks great! I've got squash and spinach to use up, so will definitely be trying these recipes over the weekend.

    Thank you.

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  3. Thank you both of you - and good luck with your gnocchi! Hope it's tasty. Do read the 101 cookbooks recipe if you haven't tried them before - it makes things a lot less scary. Let me know how you get on!

    Lizzie

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