Sage-butternut squash gnocchi

Tossed in a sage-brown butter cream sauce. Holy richness deliciousness, those were good. I've made pumpkin gnocchi before, but never butternut squash gnocchi. But, its yellow, and has a nice flavor, so I figured that was good enough for me. The gnocchi turned out nice and light, which I counteracted by adding lots of butter and cream. If I'd had booze, I would have added that, too, just to get the trifecta. Anyway, this dish took a little planning ahead to prepare, because first you have to roast the squash, mash it up, and let it drain a bit. Then you add flour and spices, roll into snakes, cut into gnocchi-sized pieces, and boil. At the same time as making the sauce. It all works out, in the end. I meant to take blurry pictures along the way, but I forgot. You're probably not missing much.

Scroll down for the caramelized onion, and sage-brown butter sauce recipes.

Sage-butternut squash gnocchi
Made enough for 4 servings, or 3 for really hungry people

1 butternut squash
olive oil
1 onion
1/2 packet (a couple sprigs) fresh sage, or dried sage
kosher salt
Flour (~2C?)
Various fall-flavored spices

First, roast your squash at 350F for 30 minutes. I did this by cutting it in half, lengthwise, scooping out all the seeds, smearing some olive oil and kosher salt on the cut side, and putting it cut-side-down on a baking sheet. Then I put the baking sheet in the oven for 30 minutes, until you could poke through the skin of the squash really easily with a fork. Easy peasy.

Once the squash is cool enough to handle, scoop the flesh out of its skin, and put it in a bowl. Mash the flesh with a potato masher, or a food processor, or a fork, or whatever you use to mash things. If you have time, put the mashed flesh into a sieve of some sort and let it drain for an hour or two to get out extra water. If you don't mind just using extra flour, forge ahead without draining.

Add ~1tsp of kosher salt, ~2tbs chopped sage (less if you're using the dried variety), and other spices of your liking. I suggest: cinnamon, black pepper, coriander, cumin, cloves, dried ginger, garlic, whatever you think would taste good. I think I used a combination of cinnamon, ginger, cumin, and pepper. It was tasty.

Stir that around so that its all mixed in. Then add some flour, about a cup, and mix that around. If its too wet to roll into a snake, add more flour. I think I ended up adding about two cups worth of flour.

Once the dough is dry enough to roll, pull out a handful at a time, and on a well-floured surface, roll it into a snake. It'll be loose, but as long as it holds its snake-like shape, you're good. Then cut the snakes into ~1/2" chunks, making sure to not let them stick together. Put about 15-20 pieces at a time into a giant pot of boiling water. The more water you have, the less likely your gnocchi are to stick to each other. When you add the gnocchi to the water, they'll all sink. Give them one gentle stir to make sure they're not sticking to the bottom, and then wait. They're done cooking when they float to the top. This took a little under 5 minutes for mine. Once they're floating, scoop them out with a slotted spoon and toss with the brown butter sauce.

Keep cooking them in batches until you've used up all the dough. Alternatively, freeze some of them - I don't know how this will turn out, but, I put about half the batch into the freezer. I cut them into gnocchi shapes, then laid them on a sheet pan to freeze individually. Once they were frozen, I put them all in a ziplock bag, with the date. Good for next time!


Caramelized onions

1 onion
~2-3tbs olive oil
kosher salt

Peel the onion. Chop it in half lengthwise. Slice across the grain, so that you end up with little half-rings. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the onion, and a good dose of kosher salt. Stir around, and let it cook for ~15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add more oil as necessary if the onions start to stick. When they're golden with brown edges, they're done - taste one. It should taste sweet and delicious.


Sage brown butter sauce

2-3 tbs butter
~1/4C fresh sage (or half that dried)
~2tbs cream (I used light cream)

Melt the butter in the onion frying pan (after taking out the onions). Add the sage, chopped coarsely. Cook for a while over medium heat, until the butter looks sort of brown-ish. Add two splashes of cream, and stir around. Taste. Add salt and pepper if you want. Pour over gnocchi, sprinkle some caramelized onions on top, and serve.