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Tuesday, Nov 2, 2010 12:20 AM UTC

Pumpkin gnocchi with maple sausage gravy

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Topics: Recipes, Food,

Pumpkin gnocchi with maple sausage gravy

Pumpkin gnocchi

Ingredients

  • 1 (1-pound) pumpkin or butternut squash (or 1 pound clean, leftover fresh pumpkin bits from carving)
  • Olive oil as needed
  • 1 large russet potato, baked, riced and cooled
  • 1 egg
  • ½ cups shredded parmesan cheese
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour, or more if needed
  • Additional parmesan for serving (optional)

Directions

  1. If using a whole squash or pumpkin, cut it in half, remove the seeds, brush the cut parts with olive oil, and bake uncovered at 400 degrees until soft, about an hour and a half. (If using pumpkin pieces, brush or toss lightly with olive oil and bake until soft; pieces will cook faster than halves.)
  2. Scoop out the baked pumpkin flesh from its skin and place in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, mashing the pumpkin as you go, until any visible liquid is cooked off and the mixture is smooth and thick. If using pumpkin pieces, put them through a food mill before this second cooking to remove the skins.
  3. Measure out 1 cup of mashed, reduced pumpkin; set aside any remaining pumpkin for other uses.
  4. Measure out 2 cups of the cooked, riced and cooled potato.
  5. Combine the pumpkin and potato with the remaining ingredients. If the dough is too sticky to handle, add more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough is firm enough to shape. Expect the dough to stay a bit sticky.
  6. Divide the dough into 8 portions. Roll each portion on a floured surface into a 12-inch rope, and cut the ropes into ¾-inch pieces. Lay the pieces on parchment-lined baking sheets.
  7. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the gnocchi pieces in two batches, and cook each batch about 10 minutes. When fully cooked, the gnocchi will swell, float and no longer taste floury. (Note that the gnocchi will probably float to the top before they’re completely done, so don’t take them out just because they’re floating.) Remove finished gnocchi with a slotted spoon and return them to the parchment-lined sheets.
  8. To serve, spoon hot gnocchi into a serving bowl, top with sausage gravy (and cheese, if desired), and serve immediately.

Sausage-maple gravy

Ingredients

  • ½ pound bulk breakfast sausage (the type flavored with sage)
  • ¼ cup chopped onion
  • 2 tablespoons neutral cooking oil, such as canola
  • 1½ cups milk
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • ¼ teaspoon dried sage, crumbled
  • 1½ tablespoons maple syrup
  • salt and white pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large saucepan. Crumble in the sausage and cook until lightly browned and cooked through. Remove sausage from the saucepan with a slotted spoon and set aside.
  2. In a separate saucepan, heat the milk until it starts to steam.
  3. Sauté the onion in the oil remaining in the first saucepan until it starts to brown. Stir in the sage, then stir in the flour and whisk the mixture for about a minute.
  4. Add the milk and continue to whisk until flour is fully dissolved and the gravy starts to thicken.
  5. Return the sausage to the gravy. Add the syrup, then add salt and white pepper to taste.

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