These tasty little bites are impressive, easy to make and can be served as a tapa or as a main. Ben Tish, Chef Director of the Salt Yard Group, advises that you should look for a small heavy variety of pumpkin such as an iron bark. These will have less water content and so will yield more flesh and have a much sweeter, intense flavour, or you could use butternut squash.
Salt Yard's pumpkin gnocchi with brown butter
Pan–fried pumpkin gnocchi with brown butter, sage, golden raisins and pinenuts – sounds like a flash gourmet veggie meal, but is actually quite easy to make at home
Serves 8
Preparation time 30 mins
Cooking time 30 mins
Ingredients
- 200g diced pumpkin, skin intact and seeds removed
- 70g 00 pasta flour
- 1 large free range egg
- Salt and pepper for seasoning
- Olive oil for cooking
- 16 sage leaves
- 100g unsalted butter
- 20g golden raisins, soaked
- 15g toasted pine nuts
- Half lemon for juice
Method
- Heat an oven to 200°C.
- Lay the diced pumpkin over a baking tray, season with salt and pepper and then drizzle with olive oil. Roast in the oven until the pumpkin is tender and sweet.
- When it's cooked and while it's still hot, pass the pumpkin through a sieve into a bowl, leaving the skins in the sieve.
- Mix the flour and egg into the bowl and incorporate well. Season to taste and reserve.
- Set a pan of water over a high heat and bring to the boil.
- With two spoons shape the gnocchi mix into “quenelles” and drop them into the boiling water. When they rise to the surface they are cooked and should be removed onto a tray with a slotted spoon. Repeat until the mix is finished.
- Heat a large non-stick pan to a high heat. Add the butter and cook until it starts to foam. Place in the gnocchi and the sage and sautee until the gnocchi are browned and hot and the sage has crisped up.
- By this stage the butter will have turned a nut brown colour. When this happens add a squeeze of lemon juice and some salt and pepper. This will arrest the cooking process of the butter and stop it from burning.
- Divide the gnocchi onto four plated and spoon over the browned butter and sage leaves.
- Finally, finish the plates with some toasted pine nuts and soaked golden raisins.
