Gnocchi-dokie! (Butternut Gnocchi in Sage Sauce)

I tried my first gnocchi a couple nights ago, and it turned out to be quite a success despite me. Rather than a traditional potato gnocchi, I made a butternut squash version (simply because that's what was on-hand).

Using squash limits you just a bit in terms of the range and intensity of flavors you can add to the sauce--the squash itself is mild and vaguely sweet almost, and it would get overwhelmed by a sauce with heavy flavors. I ended up staying very simple, and it turned out to be really tasty.

One of the great things about gnocchi is that they keep for quite a while in the fridge or freezer. Up to 6 months in the freezer, if packaged properly, I've read. I made these a couple nights ago, and when dinner fell through, I stuck them into the fridge in a ziplock. We had them last night, and they were still great.

Here's the scoop:

• 1 butternut squash (doesn't have to be huge)
• plenty of wheat and white flour
• 2 eggs
• a shake of salt
• various spices to taste--I added a dash each of cinnamon, curry, and nutmeg
• a shake of pepper

For the (clearly very complicated) sage sauce:

• 4Tbs butter
• cream
• pepper
• fresh sage leaves

Cook the squash however you'd like, but without adding water--it just has to be soft. I cheated--I cut it down the middle, scooped the seeds, and cooked it in the microwave, cut side down, until I could easily dent the shell with a spoon. You could also roast it if you have time. I bet it would be even better.

Once the squash is cooked and soft enough to scoop with a spoon, do just that--scoop the flesh out into a decent sized bowl. Mash the heck out of it and spread it around and let it cool down a bit. You don't want it so hot the eggs cook immediately when you add them.

Meanwhile, beat two eggs together until mixed. Once the squash has cooled enough, add the eggs and work them through.

Add your spices at this point.

Now was the time of second guessing for me: adding flour. It took so much more than I thought it would that I didn't even bother putting an amount above. I had a false start where I added when I thought was enough, but it was too sticky to cut, and not a proper dough. Lesson learned.

Start by adding a cup of white flour, then alternate to 2/3 cup of wheat, back to white and so on, until you have a nice, flexible, workable dough. You'll know when you've reached this point--it'll be sticky and awful to try to roll and cut before then.

Meanwhile, put a large pot of water on, salt the water, and begin bringing it to a medium boil. Make sure you have a place to roll and cut the gnocchi, something to scoop them out of the hot water with (I used a large slotted spoon) and a platter or bowl in which to keep them after you pull them out.

Once you have a workable dough, take a golf ball sized chunk and roll it into a snake, and cut pieces about an inch long. Mark the tops of them with a fork so the sauce has something to grab onto. Once you've done this lot, drop them into the now boiling water, and let them cook while you make the next lot. The gnocchi float to the surface of the water once they're done.

Now it's all about a little assembly line involving only you. While the first batch is cooking, cut another batch. By the time those are ready the cooking gnocchi will be ready to scoop out. Voila! You'll be kind of amazed how much gnocchi this recipe makes. I have a whole bag in my freezer still.

Sauce time:

Once all the gnocchi is done, you can package some up for later, and try to get the rest of them as dry as possible. I ended up tossing ours in the frying pan. While the gnocchi were turning a lovely golden brown, I put the butter in another saucepan, adding the sage leaves and letting them bubble away in the butter to imbue it with flavor. Some people might want to take the sage out, but I left them in because they were pretty. I then added some cream and a shake of pepper and let it all bubble together while I plated the gnocchi. I poured the sauce at the table. Simple.

The gnocchi had a subtle, round butternut flavor with just a hint of sweetness, and the texture was chewy and substantial, like gnocchi should be. The sauce was surprisingly flavorful, for how simple it was, and it complemented the gnocchi really well. Gnocchi is pretty filling, so a little goes a long way.

Overall, I'd recommend this recipe if you have the time to invest initially. It wasn't quick, and it wasn't a no-brainer, but I came away with probably three meals worth of gnocchi, and the later meals will be incredibly simple and quick--just brown the gnocchi in the frying pan while making the sauce.

Lovely Things Intermission...

Here's a beautiful thing that I'll be saving my pennies for from Motawi Tileworks. It's been a while since I've poked around their site, but I was reminded of it today, and spent a while ogling their work. They have as many gorgeous pieces of art as I remembered. It would be neat to have the tools to make the frame on my own.

Total Turtle

Remember Oskar the tiny turtle? Well, he's managed not to shuffle off this mortal coil for an entire season, and now that it's Spring, life has become much more interesting for him. A while ago I ditched the coconut husks he dozed the winter away in, and replaced it with an actual dirt and plants terrarium. He's been in absolute heaven. Though, to my knowledge, he's never laid eyes on a bug in his short life, the moment I dropped a worm in front of him, he rushed over to chomp on it immediately. Today I refreshed his bug supply with more worms, a bunch of sow bugs, and a random assortment of creepy crawlies from the garden. He was napping in his water bowl when I dumped everything in, and his eyes immediately went wide, and he immediately leaped out and began chasing things around. As the bugs started finding hiding spots, he began crawling up onto the highest rock in the vivarium, craaaaning his little neck in every direction to catch signs of movement, and then rushing off to snap up whatever unlucky critter made the mistake of moving.

When it comes to entertainment, TV has nothing vs. real live nature.

Arctic Summer

Here's a lovely little piece that shows the path of the summer sun in the Arctic Circle--threatening to set... but never actually doing so.

Thinking of you, Woman North!

Wintergreen -"When I Wake Up"

I know this came out in 2006, but I was talking about it with someone the other day and thought I'd post it.

Here's a neat music video that tells the story of what is probably still the most enduring video game urban myth of all time. Technically, the information in the text in the video is true, but the whole "going out into the desert with shovels" is not something that can be done in real life, since the cartridges were destroyed before being confined to the landfill.

In any case, it's whimsical and a fun little reminiscence. It says, "If you blow into an Atari cartridge, even 20 years worth of sand and grit won't keep it from playing again!"