Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Sage Sauce

Gnocchi has been a longstanding family tradition. This particular combination of butternut squash, sage, and nutmeg, will leave your taste buds craving more!

Squash, after roasting.

Ingredients for the Gnocchi:
1 Small-Medium butternut squash
1 Large Russet potato
1 Egg
1/2 t Salt
Nutmeg, as desired
Flour

Ingredients for the Sauce:
2-3 Sprigs fresh sage
2 T Butter
2 T Olive oil
Nutmeg, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 425 F. Cut the squash in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds, and place face down on a baking dish in 1-1 1/2'' water. Place the squash in the oven and roast for 20-30 minutes, until the skin is browned and a fork easily slides into the flesh. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Meanwhile, wash the potato and boil it whole in a small pot of salted water. Do not cut the potato, otherwise it become water-logged and the gnocchi will not be light and fluffy. It is done when a fork goes in easily.

Drain the potato and peel after it is cooled and is easy to handle. Do the same for the squash, making sure to discard all skin. Push the potato and squash through a ricer into a large bowl. If you don't have a ricer, you can also use a regular potato masher, but the dough won't hvae the same amount of lightness. Cover the vegetables with a towel and set aside to cool.

Once the vegetables are no longer steaming, and add the egg to the bowl. Sprinkle in the 1/2 t salt, and add a sprinkle of nutmeg. With a fork, mix everything together, being careful not to over-mix. This is not making mashed potatoes; It should have the consistency of a light dough.

Once the ingredients are evenly distributed, begin sprinkling flour into the bowl, while still mixing with the fork. As you add flour, the dough will get harder to stir. Stop adding flour when the mixture has formed a dough and it is only slightly sticky to the touch. (If in doubt, err on the side of adding too little flour, than adding too much.)

Gather the dough into a ball, and pour it onto a floured working surface. Knead gently until the stickiness is gone and the dough is workable, adding flour as needed. This only takes about a minute. Roll into a log, then cut into thick 1'' slices. Sprinkle more flour on the work surface, then roll each slice into a long snake, about 3/4'' in diameter. Cut each snake into 1'' angled pieces and roll in extra flour, before placing on a floured baking pan. Do this until all of the dough is cut into gnocchi, floured, and on the pan. Refrigerate if not using immediately, but make sure to serve the same day.

When cooking, use a wide-brimmed pot. The gnocchi will cook in about 1-2 minutes. Stir them around, as they might stick to the bottom. As soon as they float to the top of the water, fish them out using a large strainer or slotted spoon.

The sauce is very simple to make and can be heated while you are cooking the gnocchi. In a saucepan, melt the butter and oil together on M heat. Add the sage leaves and cook about 1-2 minutes. The sauce should be bubbling. Set aside. When ready to serve, pour the mixture over the gnocchi and toss to coat. Sprinkle with just a touch of nutmeg and enjoy!

Slowly adding flour to the vegetables.

A detail to show the airiness of the dough.

Making the gnocchi:

Penne all'Arrabbiata

This translates to "Angry Pasta" and is a fitting title since penne all'arrabbiata is a spicy dish. It uses small dried Italian peperoncini peppers which can be purchased at an Italian market. Other hot peppers can be substituted if you can't find these.

Ingredients:
4 T olive oil
peperoncini peppers (amount depends on desired hotness. 1=mild, 2=medium, 3 or more=hot)
1 clove garlic
tomato sauce--I will post my homemade recipe soon!

Garlic and hot peppers cooking in olive oil

First, bring a pot of water to boil, toss in some salt, and begin cooking 1 lb of penne. While this is going, peel & finely chop the garlic. Take the peperoncini peppers and chop them up into small pieces, making sure to chop up the seeds also--this releases the heat and makes the dish nice and spicy! If you don't like spicy food, leave the peppers whole.

Toss everything into a small pot with the olive oil and heat on M/L just until the olive oil begins to sizzle and the garlic is browning. Turn it off and remove from heat.

When the pasta is boiled, strain it and add tomato sauce to the pot with hot peppers. Mix this around, then add the pasta and stir until evenly coated over the hot burner.

Serve with plenty of parmesan, Mmm!

Pesto with Arugula

It's time to harvest all of our fresh basil--which means it's also time to make fresh pesto. I added arugula to the pesto to give it a slight variation of flavor, and substituted walnuts for pine nuts since that's what we had.

Ingredients:
2 c fresh basil
1 c arugula
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 c grated parmesan cheese
1/2 c olive oil
1/4 c pine nuts
pinch salt & a sprinkle of pepper

Combine all ingredients except the olive oil in a food processor. Turn on the machine & slowly pour the olive oil in the top. Scrape the sides if needed and continue combining until evenly blended. Serve over pasta, pizza, anything you like! Makes about 1 cup. Can be stored in the fridge for a few days.

 

Ricotta Gnocchi with Bolognese Sauce

In this version of ricotta gnocchi, I used some ricotta and some potato, instead of most recipes which substitute ricotta for all of the potato. I decided to make a meaty Bolognese sauce instead of just plain tomato, as it complements the flavor of the gnocchi nicely.

I usually buy about 2 lbs potatoes for 1 recipe of gnocchi. Since we're substituting some ricotta for 1 potato it's easiest to weigh out 2 lbs potatoes at the store then remove one.

First make the sauce. While that's cooking, make the gnocchi.

Ingredients for the Sauce:
2 T olive oil
1 carrot
1 stalk celery
1/2 large onion
4 oz fresh mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
1/4 c wine
10 leaves fresh basil
1 bay leaf
1 T parsley, dried, or more, fresh
1 t thyme, dried, or more, fresh
1 lb ground beef
1 28 oz can tomatoes
salt & pepper to taste

In a large saucepan, heat olive oil on M/H. Finely shop carrot, celery, onion & add to pan. Mince garlic & add. Chop the mushrooms and add those after a few minutes. When the onions are getting clear, pour in the wine and stir for 20 seconds, until the alcohol has boiled off. Add ground beef, breaking into small pieces as you go. Season with salt & pepper. After a few minutes, pour in your tomatoes & herbs, lower heat--I put mine on as low as it would go--and simmer for 1 hr, stirring occasionally.

Ingredients for the Gnocchi:
7 oz ricotta (about 1/2 a 15 oz container. If you want to substitute for 2 potatoes, use the whole container)
3 large baking potatoes (or about 1 1/2-1 3/4 lbs)
1 egg
1/2 t salt
flour

Wash the potatoes & boil them whole in salted water. Do not cut them, otherwise they become waterlogged and the gnocchi will not be light and fluffy. Make sure they cook all the way through and a fork goes in easily.

Drain the potatoes and peel when easy to handle (I'm usually impatient and do this right away, despite burning my fingers a bit). Push each potato through a ricer into a large bowl. If you don't have a ricer, you can also use a regular potato masher, but you won't get the same amount of airiness in your dough. Try to remove as many lumps as possible, if using the masher. Cover the potatoes with a towel and set aside to cool.

Once the potatoes are cool enough that cracking an egg into them won't cook the egg, go ahead and add the egg to the bowl.  (I remember this always confused me when I was a kid: "Potatoes cooking an egg, I don't understand!"). Sprinkle in the 1/2 t salt, and add in the ricotta. With a fork, mix everything together, being careful not to smash the potatoes too much; we're not making mashed potatoes, we're trying to keep it the consistency of a light dough.

Once the ricotta and potatoes are evenly distributed, begin sprinkling flour over the mixture, while still mixing with the fork. It will get harder to mix as you add more flour. Stop adding flour when the mixture has formed a dough and it is only slightly sticky to the touch. (If in doubt, err on the side of adding too little flour, than adding too much.)

Gather the dough into a ball, and dump onto a floured working surface. Knead until the stickiness is gone and the dough is workable, adding flour as needed. This only takes about a minute. Roll into a log, then slice into thick 1'' slices. Sprinkle more flour on your work surface, then roll each slice into a long snake, about 1/2'' in diameter. Cut each snake into 3/4'' angled pieces and roll in extra flour, before placing on a floured baking pan. Do this for each of the slices of dough, until all of them are cut into gnocchi, floured, and on the pan. Boil water and cook the same day.

When cooking gnocchi, use a wide-brimmed pot and only place enough in to cover the bottom layer. They will cook in about 1-2 minutes. Stir them around, as they might stick to the bottom. As soon as they float to the top of the water, fish them out using a large strainer or slotted spoon.

When I finished making the gnocchi, my sauce had about 15 minutes left to cook. I set a pot of water to boil, and when the timer for the sauce was done, my gnocchi were just done cooking. I couldn't have asked for better timing!

Next time I think I'll either cut the meat in half or double the tomatoes and veggies, to make the sauce more "saucey", but as of now I'm satisfied because I was craving something really meaty tonight and that's exactly what I got.