Gnocchi with Roasted Butternut Squash

This is a dish that is enjoyable to make and to eat. It’s satisfying comfort food and we make it two ways, with a red sauce or a white one. Those are only two of the endless possibilities. What personal twist will you add?

Chef: Kerry Wicks

Yield: About 36-Gnocchi. Enough for four people.

Ingredients:

• Start of recipe
• 1 butternut squash
• 2 eggs
• All purpose flour to mix and roll out gnocchi
• Parmesan cheese for serving

• Choose a sauce: Red sauce
• 1.5  cups (375 ml) marinara sauce
• 1.5 cups (375 ml) Harwood red wine such as Admirals Blend, Pinot Noir, or Meritage

• Choose a sauce: White sauce
• 2 tb (30ml) all purpose flour
• 2 tb (30 ml) unsalted butter
• 1.5 cups heavy cream
• 1.5 cups Harwood white wine such as Windward White or Pinot Gris

• Back to the recipe
• ½ lb. of spinach (1 bag) with stems removed
• 1 small onion, cut up
• 1 garlic bud, diced small
• ½ a fresh lemon, juiced
• Salt to taste
• Fresh ground pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Wash and cut the squash in 6 pieces. Roast in the oven on a sheet pan flesh side up at 350 degrees for about 1.25 hours until the squash is soft and the inside is mushy.
2. Cool squash, then scoop out flesh and trim any charred bits. Mash with a fork.
3. Mix in 2 eggs.
4. Stir in enough flour so that you can form a ball of dough with your hands without it falling apart.
5. Make your first ball (you should get about six) the size of a tennis ball, then roll out like a rope on a floured counter. Cut into six pieces. Form each piece into a little ball, a little smaller than a golf ball.
6. Cook each batch of 6 in boiling salted water. When they are done, they will bob to the surface.
7. Transfer (using a strainer) the gnocchi batches to your sauce of choice to keep warm.
8. Meanwhile, choose which sauce you are making. For the red sauce, combine the 2 ingredients in a saucepan and heat gently.
9. For the white sauce, make a roux with the flour and butter, and when it is hot, slowly add the cream, stirring to heat and thicken. Then, gradually add the white wine to desired consistency.

Serving suggestion: Sptinkle with Parmesan cheese.