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1
Start by preheating oven to 425 F. Take a knife and make score marks into the flesh of the squash, about 1/2 inch down.
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2
Rub the skin with the canola oil and place the squash onto a rimmed baking sheet, skin side up.
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3
Roast in the oven for 45 minutes.
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4
During this time, fill a pot with the potatoes, and cover with cold water.
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5
Bring to a simmer on the stove, and cook until fork tender.
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6
Depending on the size of the chunks this should take 10-20 minutes.
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7
Once the potatoes are tender, drain them and return the potatoes back to the pot.
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8
Put pot onto the stove on medium-low heat and cook until the excess moisture is removed, just a couple of minutes.
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9
Remove pot from the oven and let potatoes cool.
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10
Remove the tender squash from the oven and let that cool.
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11
Once the potatoes have cooled, put them through a ricer if you have one.
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12
If not, mash them into a mixing bowl.
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13
Remove the squash flesh from the skin and add it into a food processor.
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14
Process until you have a nice puree.
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15
Add this puree into a pot on the stove, and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes to remove any excess moisture.
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16
Remove it from the heat.
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17
Let squash cool, then add into the mixing bowl with the potatoes.
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18
Into the mixing bowl add the egg, salt and Parmesan cheese.
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19
Start your mixer, and gradually add in the flour.
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20
You do not want to dump in all of the flour, but just enough so that it forms a non-sticky dough.
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21
I do this in my KitchenAid stand mixer with a dough hook, allowing me to knead for a few minutes after the dough has came together.
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22
Once the dough is kneaded, lightly flour your work surface, and add the dough onto it.
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23
Divide the dough into equal pieces, about 8 will work.
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24
Lightly flour a large baking tray as well.
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25
Take each small ball of dough and gently roll it into a rope shape, about one inch thick.
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26
Once you have your rope, cut it into one inch pieces.
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27
Using the back of a fork, press into each piece of dough so that you see the fork tine lines (see related blog link for photos if needed).
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28
Then place all of the dough pieces onto the floured baking sheet.
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29
Repeat until all of the gnocchi have formed.
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30
Lightly cover the sheet with plastic wrap and place into your refrigerator to set up, for about 2 hours.
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31
Once you are ready to make the gnocchi, bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil.
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32
During this time, slowly melt the butter in a skillet on low heat.
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33
You are going to go for a browned butter on this sauce, so keep that in mind.
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34
We will raise the heat a bit as the gnocchi gets closer to finishing cooking.
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35
Once the water is rapidly boiling, add in about 15-20 of the gnocchi.
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36
Give a gentle stir, and cook for about 10-15 minutes, or until the gnocchi are floating to the top of the water.
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37
As soon as they begin to float to the top, raise the heat of your butter to a medium-high heat, and let the butter begin to brown.
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38
Once the butter begins to brown, toss in the sage.
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39
It will crack and sizzle, and smell really, really good.
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40
If you have never had browned butter sage sauce, well, you will love it.
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41
Two of my kids really love it, and that is saying something.
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42
Remove the cooked gnocchi from the water with a slotted spoon and add them into the butter sauce.
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43
Give a gentle toss, and let this cook for a couple of minutes.
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44
Add more grated Parmesan to your liking, and serve.
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45
Repeat and make more sauce and more gnocchi if you are serving more than two people.
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46
Otherwise, you can place the baking pan with the remaining gnocchi into your freezer and flash freeze the leftovers (thats what I did) for later use.
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47
Not only does this particular butternut squash gnocchi look awesome with that light orange color, but it tastes like fall as my wife had noted.
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48
Fluffy and soft pillows of pasta that have that light, not overwhelming, flavor of butternut squash.
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And it is perfectly balanced by that browned butter sage sauce.
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50
This is good.
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51
Really, really good.
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52
I hope you enjoy.
