Thursday, November 09, 2006

Gnocchi di zucca e patate
















Squash gnocchi. Please read the general section on gnocchi.

There are many ways to make squash gnocchi. These the one I know
1. squash/potatoes/egg/flour: roll and cut on the table
2. squash/egg/flour drop in water
3. ricotta/potatoes/squash/flour/egg for chicche della nonna, alla piacentina, also
to roll and cut on the table
4. with ricotta/squash/eggs/no or very little flour: to drop on a floured tray

In any case it is important to use a tasty and no watery squash.

I'll try a recipe at a time and add to my recipe list.

This is the first option: I cut and removed the seed from a kabocha squash, wrapped in foil and baked in the oven. I steamed some floury potatoes.
I used about 400 g of squash pulp and about 180 g of potatoes. Both passed in the ricer and let to cool a little on the table. I added one beaten egg (medium size), some nutmeg, salt and enough flour to make a soft but not sticky dough. Cut a piece of dough at a time, shape into a rod and cut with a sharp knife little gnocchi. If you like to leave a pattern on the gnocchi, press each one on the back of a cheese grater.
Tranfer the gnocchi on a flour dusted towel on a tray and bring the water to a boil. Add salt and dump in the gnocchi, as soon as they come to surface, drain using a perforated spoon. Dress with noisette butter and sage. Grated parmigiano or grana at the table.


9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ehi! Guarda com'è piccolo il mondo.
Gli gnocchi sembrano fantastici (come sempre) ed io volevo solo salutarti.
Scrivo qualcosa in inglese se no mi picchi perchè ti inquino il blog con l'italiano.
Nice blog.
Kisses
Ales

Francesca Spalluto said...

Hey, Ale, how did you find me?
Good to see you here.

Anonymous said...

Ah!!! I was wondering why your gnocchi were so light in color. It's the inclusion of what we call russet potatoes. That ingredient also would lighten the dough considerably. It looks as though I'm going to have to give all three versions a try, Franci.

Anonymous said...

I try to write in english :-D.
I'm searching for gnocchi and I find your nice blog.

Francesca Spalluto said...

Hi Elizabeth. You should definitely try different methods and decide which one you like better. Yes, with russet potatoes the gnocchi are more similar to classic potato gnocchi. The "drop in water" squash gnocco is denser but, dipending from the squash you use, it can be also very tasty. I do like both.

Sdonk, I am very happy you landed here!

Anonymous said...

There are two nice little pumpkins in my kitchen (bought at the farmers market in SE4): one is for risotto alla zucca, the other one for your gnocchi recipe!

Anonymous said...

Francesca? If you're the Francesca that I knew in Bologna in 1995, than this is, as Ales said, a small world. I was reading about Pugliese food at eGullet, thought you looked a little familiar, and found your blog. I hope you do Panzerotti next. Good to run across you!

Alex

Francesca Spalluto said...

Alex! That's me! Please PM me on egullet.

As for the others, I am so sorry I abandoned the blog but this has been a busy time with my family. In few days I'll be back to London.

Happy New Year

Anonymous said...

F, I haven't gone through the rigmarole to join over at eGullet yet (it seems like such a process!) So far I've been content to just browse over there. Please feel free to email me at alex (at) kavarna (dot) com. I'm glad it's you here, it would have been too weird to have found a nearly identical Francesca.