Rich, baby pillows of deliciousness. Also, these babies are completely pumpkinlicious, meaning. No potatoes, just good old pumpkin in these. We have been making these pumpkin gnocchi for the past three years, so this is a pretty “new" thing for us but that doesn’t mean we aren’t completely in love with them. If potato gnocchi are soft and light, there on the other hand are more rich, dense and less starchy. Perfect for autumn and winter.
Potato gnocchi are light, pillowy and delicate, these pumpkin gnocchi on the other hand are richer, denser and of course less starchy (because we didn’t use potato).
Making pumpkin gnocchi is as easy as making potato gnocchi. Also a few of the ingredients are the same: We added cornstarch (you can use potato starch as well), parmesan cheese and egg yolk. Instead of strong flour, we used plain flour in this recipe. Cornstarch helps make gnocchi delicate and the parmesan cheese adds a delicious, rich, almost umami flavor.
Now let’s talk about some tips and tricks and the reason why a lot of people don’t make gnocchi at home. The reason is simple and totally understandable. Making gnocchi can be messy, but it shouldn’t be. So if that’s the reason you are not making gnocchi at home, then my friends, we have a solution for you. We used two very different techniques in this recipe.
Technique option 1
First technique takes longer, is messier and takes a bit more skills, but on the plus sizes, the gnocchi are a lot prettier and the shape is easier to control. We prefer this technique. Lightly dust the working surface and flatten the gnocchi dough into a rectangle. Divide the dough into ten pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a sausage shape, then cut off lengths around the same size.
Technique option 2
Technique number two on the other hand is much simpler and less messy (there’s no shaping, no dusting with flour and no skills needed) however, you don’t have a lot of control on how the gnocchi will look like. You fill the pastry bag with gnocchi dough, pipe gnocchi into the salted boiling water using the string to cut pieces. There’s no direct contact with the dough, so the whole process is a lot cleaner and simpler.
Now that we have all that covered it’s time to tie an apron and get to work. Oh my, I am so excited to make these fantastic, easy, delicious pumpkin gnocchi, hope you are too. Plus, here's a quick idea how to serve them: Chicken Gnocchi with Peas and Carrots, delicious.
METHOD
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Bake the pumpkin
Peel the pumpkin or squash, remove the seeds and cut the pumpkin on squares, approx. 1 cm x 1 cm (1/2-inch x 1/- inch). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, add the pumpkin and bake for about 1 hour at 180 °C / 355 °F.
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Cool the pumpkin to room temperature
Remove the baked pumpkin from the oven and let it cool to room temperature, for about 15 minutes.
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Make the pumpkin purée
Add the baked pumpkin to a bowl and blend using an immersion blender (or blender) until you get a nice, silky pumpkin purée. You will need 450g (1 lbs) of purée for this recipe.
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Make the gnocchi
Add plain flour and cornstarch to a bowl. Make a little well in the middle and add the pumpkin purée. Add a pinch of salt, egg yolk and freshly grated parmesan cheese. Using a wooden spoon, stir everything together to combine. Then knead everything together with your hands, trying to keep the kneading to minimum. The dough needs to be soft, better slightly sticky then doughy.
TipIf you feel the dough is completely uncontrollable and super sticky, add a small amount of flour to bring the dough together. -
Making gnocchi (Technique option 1)
There are two techniques for making gnocchi at home. Technique option 1 is a little bit more time consuming, but creates prettier gnocchi. First lightly dust the working surface and flatten the gnocchi dough into a rectangle around 1 cm (1/2 inch) thick. Divide the dough into ten pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a sausage shape, around 2 cm / 1-inch thick, then cut off lengths around the same size. Repeat until you have used all the dough. Meanwhile, place a pot of salted water over medium high heat and bring to a boil. Gently add the gnocchi (cook in batches) and cook for about 5 minutes or until they start to float.
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Making gnocchi (Technique option 2)
For the Technique option 2, fill a pastry bag with gnocchi dough. Tie a piece of string between the pot handles (you will use the string to cut the gnocchi). Bring water to a boil in the pot. Working in batches, pipe gnocchi into the boiling water a few at a time, using the string to cut pieces about 2 cm (1-inch) long (as seen on the photo). Cook for 5 minutes, or until gnocchi start to float to the top of the water.
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Serve or store
Serve the cooked pumpkin gnocchi with a sauce of your choosing or store uncooked gnocchi in a freezer bag and freeze for up to a month. Cook frozen pumpkin gnocchi for about 10 minutes or until they start to float. Enjoy.
