Although we’re all confirmed meat eaters in our house, everyone enjoys eating a plateful of pumpkin gnocchi with garlic butter. Besides being tasty, these brightly coloured gnocchi are surprisingly filling and make a great lunch or light supper.

Serving size: 4
Preparation & cooking time:35 minutes
Effort level: A little effort
Shelf life: Best eaten immediately. Will keep 3 days in fridge, microwave to reheat

Ingredients:
600g butternut squash
175g plain flour – sifted
60g parmesan – finely grated
25g fresh basil – sliced into ribbons
50g butter
4 tbsp olive oil
4 -6 fat garlic cloves
20g parsley

Equipment:
Medium saucepan
Small frying pan
Large frying pan
Potato masher
Vegetable peeler
Colander and sieve
Fine microplane or cheese grater
Slotted spoon or 2 forks
Dinner plate lined with kitchen towel

Here’s What You Do:
Fill the kettle and put on to boil.

Meanwhile peel the squash, (I find a vegetable peeler works best).
Pour the boiling water from the kettle into the saucepan, add a generous dash of salt and place over a high heat.

Chop the squash into thin slices and boil in salted water for 10 minutes until tender.

Meanwhile, make the garlic butter. Finely chop the garlic and tip into the small frying pan with the butter and olive oil and sauté over a gentle heat for a minute or so, being careful not to brown the garlic. Then take off the heat and put aside.

Next, finely chop the parsley and add to the sauted garlic.

Drain the squash thoroughly (if the mixture’s wet it won’t hold together) then return to the saucepan and mash until smooth.

Refill the kettle and put on to boil.

Next, sift the flour onto the mashed squash. Grate the parmesan and tip onto the flour. Finely slice the basil into thin ribbons and add them too. Mix everything together thoroughly and season with salt and pepper. The mixture should be the consistency of cake mixture – so it plops off a spoon when flicked. 

Now pour the water from kettle into the large frying pan, add a generous dash of salt and place over a medium high heat so the water boils gently, but not too frantically, otherwise the gnocchi may fall apart.

Test a piece of gnocchi, by dropping it into the boiling water. If it falls apart, the mixture’s too soft, so  add a little more flour.

Next, scoop up a heaped teaspoonful of the squash mixture roughly the size of a walnut then slide it off the spoon with your finger into the bubbling water. 

Boil the gnocchi for approx 5 minutes, turning them over half way(they’re done when they float to the surface). Carefully lift them out with a slotted spoon or a couple of forks onto a plate lined with kitchen towel. 

Next, gently reheat the garlic butter, then tip the gnocchi into the garlic butter, shaking the pan to coat them well.

Serve immediately.

Tags: butter, butternut squash, garlic, olive oil, parmesan, parsley, plain flour