Squash Gnocchi with Roasted Garlic and Sage Brown Butter

I know I’ve presented mini-blitz of squash recipes lately, but I’m following a new cooking mantra (and trying to clear my fridge, windowsill, and veggie bins of CSA veggies) to only cook seasonal fruits and veggies. Sometimes inspiration comes from the strangest places. I was doing my obligatory CSA hours at the farmer’s market and I noticed a customer checking out the produce with the time and attention that a curator might take to inspect a potentially fraudulent painting. When he paid for his items I asked him what he was considering so carefully – he was choosing just the right butternut to make squash gnocchi. “Squash Gnocchi!,” I thought with an exclamation point, “boy, I’ve got to try that at home.”

What I found is that this is not, sadly, the simplest dish to make. But it’s very satisfying in a this-is-want-I-want-after-a-long-day-of-raking-leaves sort of way. I followed gnocchi making directions that suggested to roll a piece of already labor-intensive dough down a fork in such a way that it had tine-marks on one side and an indentation on the other side. I couldn’t quite figure this out, even though I practiced about 80 times. And if I ever had to do it again I’d probably impale myself on a rake. I’m suggesting the diagonally-chopped log approach to you folks - it will save a lot of time and frustration and I suspect that your gnocchi will be more tender to boot since you won’t be handing them as much.

With all the care that goes into making these gnocchi you’re not going to want to disguise your work with a bulky sauce. So this one is just butter and mellow roasted garlic laced with crispy sage leaves. Perfect for the season.

Serves: 4
Time: 3 hours (2 hours to cook and cool the squash, 1 hour to make the gnocchi and sauce)

Squash Gnocchi with Roasted Garlic and Sage Brown Butter

1 medium squash (try a drier variety like butternut or buttercup)
2 heads garlic
olive oil

Pasta
2 eggs
1 1/2 - 2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt

Sauce
1 stick butter
20 or so whole fresh sage leaves, stems removed
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Halve the squash lengthwise and place it cut side down on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Bake for 1 to 1 ½ hours, or until soft to the touch. Cool and set aside.

Discard any loose leaves on the garlic heads and brush off any dirt. Slice the top off the head of the garlic so it exposes the interior of each garlic clove. Place on a baking sheet cut side up, drizzle with a little olive oil, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour until the garlic is golden and fragrant. When garlic has cooled sufficiently, pop the cloves out of the skins by squeezing the root side of bulb. Set aside for the sauce.

When the squash has cooled, scoop out the seeds and surrounding stringy matter with a spoon. Extract the flesh from the skin and whip with a fork, or pass through a food mill if you happen to have one of these contraptions. What I’ve found is that watery squash makes for a less flavorful gnocchi so simmer the squash pulp over medium heat until reduced and dry, but not browning or burnt. You want to work with ¾ cup of squash.

Beat eggs in a small bowl and incorporate ¾ cup of condensed squash pulp. In a different larger bowl mix 1 1/2 cups flour with salt.

Start water boiling in one or two large pots. Be sure to salt the water quite a bit.

Slowly fold the squash/egg mixture into the flour, working as little and lightly as possible. Depending on the consistency of your squash you may need to add more flour until the dough stops sticking to your hands.

Break dough into a few pieces and on a lightly floured surface roll the dough out into a snake shape with the width the size of a nickel. Dust the top of the snake with flour and cut 1/2 inch slices on a diagonal to make the gnocchi. Keep the gnocchi on lightly floured baking sheet while you are rolling and cutting the rest of the dough, but it’s best to get them cooked as close to their creation as possible.

Gently ease the gnocchi into the lightly boiling water. You will probably not be able to fit them all in at once, so do them in batches. Stir to make sure they don’t stick to the bottom. With a slotted spoon, take them out when they start to float, 2-3 minutes.

In a large pot melt the butter over medium heat. When it starts to foam add the sage leaves and cook until the butter starts to brown and the sage gets crispy. Add the whole roasted garlic cloves and cooked gnocchi and mix until the flavors meld together.

Serve immediately with a side of sautéed greens, maybe a warm beet salad, and definitely a glass of crisp white wine.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007 at 6:48 pm and is filed under Pasta, Pizzas, & Grains, Harvest, Autumn. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.