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Roasted Butternut Squash Gnocchi

A nice recipe for the weekend.
Total Time1 hour 20 minutes
Course: Main Course
Keyword: Vegetarian
Servings: 2

Ingredients

  • 500 g raw butternut squash (or 250g puréed)
  • tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 pinch nutmeg
  • 225-250 g pasta or plain flour (plus extra for dusting)
  • 1 large clove of garlic (thinly sliced)
  • 130 g frozen spinach (defrosted and drained)
  • salt for boiling water (optional)
  • pepper to serve (optional)

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 180ºC (fan oven) and line a baking tray with foil.
  • Peel, deseed and chop the butternut squash into roughly 2cm cubes.
  • Coat the pieces in ½ tablespoon of olive oil and place onto the tray, spreading evenly. Roast in the oven, on the middle shelve for 40 minutes, turning half-way through.
  • Once the butternut squash is cooked, it should be soft, leave to cool for around 30 minutes.
  • Pat dry any moisture/oil from the butternut squash.
  • Blend the cooled butternut squash into a purée, then transfer to a large bowl.
  • Add the egg yolk to the purée and mix well.
  • Add a pinch of nutmeg and stir into the mixture.
  • Add the flour a little at a time to the mixture and combine well until a dough has formed. You might find this easier on a work surface than in the bowl.
  • Cut your dough ball into 4 roughly equal pieces and on a lightly floured surface roll into long breadstick shapes around 1.5cm thick.
  • Cut them into 2cm pieces. Dusting in flour will stop them sticking. Roll each piece down the back of a fork to get the grooves (or a gnocchi board if you have one). Set aside.
  • Put a large pan of lightly salted water on to boil.
  • Whilst the water comes to boil make your spinach. In a frying pan add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the garlic slices. Fry over a light-medium heat for a few minutes, taking care not to burn the garlic.
  • Add the drained spinach, and fry for 2 minutes. Then remove from the heat.
  • Once the water is boiling add the gnocchi. Do this in 2 batches as you do not want to overload the pan. Boil each batch for 1½-2 minutes, until the gnocchi starts to float to the surface, then it is cooked.
  • Using a slotted/draining spoon remove the gnocchi and add them to your spinach.
  • Repeat steps 14-15 until all the gnocchi is cooked (if you make a bigger batch you’ll need to cook in more batches). Reserve a cup of the cooking water.
  • Heat the spinach mixture and gnocchi on a high heat. Add a splash of the cooking water and stir until everything coats the gnocchi. If this is too dry add another splash of cooking water and cook until the water evaporates, and the gnocchi has a silky coating.
  • Spoon into bowls and serve with pepper if desired.

Notes

 
Recipe Tips
1. This is a great way to use up cooked butternut squash or cook and purée a batch of butternut squash and pop it into the freezer. That way next time you make the recipe you can eliminate the majority of the prep and cook time.
2. Don’t throw away the egg white, use this up in scrambled egg or an omelette.
3. When making gnocchi always have your sauce ready first, this way as you cook the batches of gnocchi you can transfer them straight to the sauce without them sticking together.
4. Fantastic served with oven-baked salmon.