Pumpkin Gnocchi in a Burnt Butter and Sage Sauce
If you love gnocchi and want a wintry version to try, you'll love this pumpkin version.
The recipe uses baked pumpkin as well as ricotta and egg yolks as I found this the easiest and best way to get a dough that was soft and pillowy.
It's also freezer friendly and I've popped the notes below.
Makes- 60 gnocchi, serves 3-4 people
Ingredients- 10
Cooking Time- 1 hour, 30 minutes for pumpkin to roast, 30 minutes for making gnocchi
Skill Level- Medium
Ingredients
Gnocchi
Half a (650g-700g) butternut pumpkin. Once you peel the skin, remove the seeds, roast in the oven and rice, it should yield you at least 200g (¾ cup) of pumpkin puree which is what you need for the dough.
200g traditional ricotta. Find the one that is in a basket or has been strained. I used Mamma Lucia Premium Ricotta from the Woolworth’s Deli
2 egg yolks,
⅔ cup (30g ) parmigiano reggiano cheese, plus extra for garnishing
Generous pinch of salt
Generous pinch of grated nutmeg
Pinch of pepper
150g of tipo 00 flour, sifted. Plus extra for dusting
Sauce
40g butter per serving/person
10 or so sage leaves
Pinch of salt
Extra parmigiano reggiano, pepper and nutmeg for garnishing
Method
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Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius. Remove the skin from the pumpkin and cut into 2cm slices. Place onto a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until soft.
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Pull out of the oven and allow it to fully cool down. This allows the excess moisture to steam off as you need the pumpkin puree to be dry as possible.
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Once cool, use a potato ricer to rice the pumpkin, removing any pithy bits as you rice. You will need 200g of pumpkin puree.
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Place ricotta, egg yolks, nutmeg and salt into a bowl and mix to combine. Mix in the parmigiano reggiano cheese and then add in the pumpkin puree, mixing to combine.
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Add in half of the flour and fold into the mixture. Slowly add in the remaining flour a few tablespoons at a time until it starts to come together.
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Generously flour a chopping board or benchtop and turn the dough onto it and use your hands to gently shape it into a ball. Add extra flour if the mixture is still sticky, but be very careful to not add too much flour as the more flour you add, the more chewy the texture will become.
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Cut the dough into quarters and then begin rolling each quarter into long skinny logs. Use a knife to then cut the log into 2cm gnocchi pillows. Please note that this gnocchi dough will be a lot softer than a potato gnocchi. If you are concerned that the dough is too soft and will disintegrate, I recommend boiling 1-2 gnocchi first to test the texture, before adding in any extra flour or rolling out the rest of the gnocchi.
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Transfer the gnocchi onto a baking tray lined with baking paper and dusted with flour, whilst you roll out the remaining dough. You should have approximately 60 gnocchi.
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Boil a pot of salted boiling water and once it starts to boil, add in the gnocchi. You can either place the gnocchi gently one by one with your hands, or if you want to cook them all at once, gently lift the baking paper and tip them into the pot. In tandem, heat a large pan on medium and add the butter and sage to melt. The gnocchi will take 2 minutes or so to cook. As soon as they start floating to the top they are ready. Use a slotted spoon to transfer them from the boiling pot to the pan.
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Once all of the gnocchi are in the pan, allow to cook for another 2-3 minutes ensuring both sides of the gnocchi are golden brown and the butter is starting to burn with brown flecks in it. I prefer to let them cook a little longer on each side, pan frying so they get extra crispy and golden, which really compliments the pumpkin.
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Transfer the gnocchi onto plates and top with the residual buttery sauce and crispy sage bits. Top with extra grated parmesan, nutmeg and cracked pepper.
Notes and FAQs
Freezing- If you want to freeze these for future meals, simply place them onto a baking tray lined with baking paper ensuring the gnocchi are not touching each other. Place into the freezer until fully frozen and then transfer to a container or bag for compact storing. To cook, you can simply boil these from frozen, it might just take them an extra minute to float to the top, but the texture will remain the same as fresh.
Using different pumpkin- I tested this recipe using butternut pumpkin as it’s one of the most widely available. If you decide to make this with another pumpkin, you may need to adjust the amount of flour used as the moisture content of pumpkins vary. In dough recipes like this, you have to use your best judgement and add or use less flour depending on the consistency.
Watch the Process