Squash gnocchi

Squash gnocchi

This hearty vegetarian main course, or quick family supper, is healthy as well as delicious

Difficulty and servings

Moderately easy

Serves 4

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 40 mins

Cook time

Cook 1 hr 30 mins

Vegetarian Freezable

Vegetarian

Method

  1. Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Tip the squash into a roasting tray. Toss with the garlic, thyme and olive oil, then season. Cover the dish with foil and roast for 40 mins until soft. Leave to cool slightly.
  2. When the squash is cool enough to handle, remove the flesh and use a spatula to force it through a fine sieve. Tip into a clean pan, then gently cook for 30-40 mins until reduced to a dense mass that comes away from the sides of the pan. Leave to cool.
  3. Tip purée into a bowl, then season with the nutmeg, salt and pepper. Mix in the egg, flour and 100g of the parmesan. You should have a soft pliable dough so, if it's too wet, add more flour until it's the right consistency.
  4. Take a third of the dough and, on a floured surface, roll into a long strip about the thickness of your thumb. Cut the strip into little pillows about 3cm long, then press each one gently with the back of a fork. repeat with the remaining dough.
  5. Bring a large pan of water to the boil, then drop in the gnocchi in batches. Cook until they float, then give them a minute more before scooping out and putting them in a bowl of iced water. When they're all cooked, drain well.
  6. To serve, heat a grill to high. Melt the butter in a large pan until sizzling, then throw in the chilli and sage - sizzle for a minute before throwing in the gnocchi and tossing through. tip into a heatproof dish, scatter with parmesan, flash under the grill until browned, then serve immediately.
Try

Or why not try...

Making a simple soup by cooking chunks of peeled squash in stock with curry paste and coconut milk, then blitzing until smooth.

Per serving

580 kcalories, protein 20.0g, carbohydrate 40.0g, fat 39.0 g, saturated fat 21.0g, fibre 6.0g, sugar 17.0g, salt 1.15 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, November 2007.

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Latest comments and suggestions

  • 13 November 2007

    jinny commented on this recipe

    What exactly does "blitzing" mean as far as cooking is concerned?

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  • 14 November 2007

    Michelle Lewis commented on this recipe

    Blitzing in a recipe means putting it into a blender and whizzing it untul smooth

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  • 09 January 2008

    hobbycook rated and commented on this recipe

    2 stars

    It says up to 4 TBSP of flour but I ended up using about 5 times the amount to get it to the right consistency. Obviously I didn't use the correct amount, because they ended up being extremely doughy tasting.

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  • 01 April 2009

    acapoferri commented on this recipe

    Can you specify the amount of butternut squash in Kg or pounds? I've no idea how much of it to use. Thanks!

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  • 02 April 2009

    glorious commented on this recipe

    I used 2 medium butternut squash and it worked well the consistency was good, did not bother weighing them to see what they weighed.

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  • 07 September 2009

    cathmurphy commented on this recipe

    I thought two squashes sounded like too much and used half a pumpkin (about one squash). I was wrong - not enough for 4. You need to reduce the pumpkin/squash puree until it is really, really thick. Don't skimp on this bit. I put the thyme direct into the mixture rather than at the roasting stage, because I find adding herbs to roasts smells great but that's about it. At the boiling stage - I let them rise to the top then fished 'em out. 1 minute further cooking reduced them to soup. Served with a garlicky tomato sauce topped with grated cheese. Verdict - delicious if time consuming. Will definitely use again.

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  • 05 November 2009

    k_london08 rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Great results-but very time consuming! Despite cutting into very small wedges it took me over an hour to roast the squash,10 mins to cool, 30 mins to puree,40 mins to cook,10 mins to cool,30mins to cook in batches then another 10 to grill-including prep and tidying about 2.5 hours in the kitchen! I agree with the flour comment, I added 100g more until I had a good dough.I followed all other instructions to the letter and was amazed to find perfect gnocchi! I've never made gnocchi before always assumed it would be too tricky so ate it at italian restaurants at every opppertunity. I thought the squash might make it too different from potato gnocchi to enjoy, but the texture was near identical.

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  • 18 January 2010

    Colleen rated this recipe

    4 stars

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  • 31 October 2010

    schizofish rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    Only used 1 squash because I only wanted a small amount. Roasted ok, pureed ok, but could not get to a dense mass that 'comes away from the sides of the pan' and I tried for about 60 minutes. Eventually mixed in the flour (more than stated) and dropped spoonfuls into boiling water. They were nice, very filling, but will probably not make again as too time consuming.

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  • 13 December 2010

    Lorraine commented on this recipe

    After reading some of these comments, I wish I'd persevered with the recipe. I, like schizofish, could not get the density that it described and I also ended up using far too much flour like hobbycook, probably because I couldn't get the density therefore too much moisture in the puree. Sooo.. by this time I thought I'd gone too far wrong and threw it all away!!!!! Boo Hoo!! Sounds like some other people's gnocchis turned out OK. I think I'll leave it a (looooong) while before I try it again though... very time consuming.

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  • 28 December 2010

    hapagirl rated and commented on this recipe

    1 stars

    I made this dish exactly a year ago because it looked so delicious. I remember at the time it took me two days and it took me another year to try again. I am doing that now. And I am remembering why. This thing does NOT take 40 minutes prep and 1.5 hours cooking. It takes FOREVER. I had to put the sieved squash in the pan to reduce for at least an hour and a half just now. In the end I got so frustrated that I wacked up the heat for the last half an hour and just stood next to it and stirred so it wouldn't burn. Also need lots more flour than stated. It makes you wonder if they tried these recipes before they publish them. It is pretty good in the end but not sure if its worth the effort.

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  • 09 October 2011

    Lisa rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Yes it is a bit fiddly, yes it takes time but it is so worth it! I love cooking - which is why I use this site, so the fact that it's not 'easy' is appealing. Lovely combination of flavours and perfect with a glass of Red! A*

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  • 25 November 2011

    Microbiologist rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This was delicious. A real hit at my dinner last night with friends. Much, much more flour needed than is described.

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  • 06 March 2013

    Noonoo commented on this recipe

    I think part of the problem here is that the the recipe is too vague. Butternut pumpkin/squash can vary hugely in size, so simply saying to use 'two' doesn't make sense. Potato gnocchi usually takes up flour to around a 1/4 of the weight of the potato (my recipe is 900g of potato to 250g flour). Assuming that the purpose of the second cooking of the pumpkin is to bring the consistancy up to more or less that of mashed potato, 'up to' 4 tablespoons of flour seems like far too little to me. I'm not even going to try these.

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Difficulty and servings

Moderately easy

Serves 4

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 40 mins

Cook time

Cook 1 hr 30 mins

Vegetarian Freezable

Vegetarian

Ingredients

FOR THE SAUCE

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Per serving

580 kcalories, protein 20.0g, carbohydrate 40.0g, fat 39.0 g, saturated fat 21.0g, fibre 6.0g, sugar 17.0g, salt 1.15 g

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