Thursday, December 15, 2011

Dark Days Challenge: Pumpkin Gnocchi

More fun with pumpkin. And dough!
So that extra pumpkin that got roasted when I made soup the other day is destined for pasta. The only thing better in the winter than soup is pasta.

PUMPKIN GNOCCHI WITH BROWN BUTTER AND HAZELNUTS
 Like making bread, the amount of flour used is going to vary. How much moisture is in the air? How much moisture is in your pumpkin? How much liquid do you get from 4 eggs anyway? Like making bread or pie crust, the more you do it, the better feel you get for it. And even if it doesn't come out just right, homemade bread, pie crust and pasta is still awesome.

Ingredients ( non-local items in italics)

Roasted pumpkin, approx 4 c
All purpose flour, 2-5 c
Large eggs, 4
Olive oil, 4 Tbls
Salt, 1 1/2 tsp
Butter
Toasted hazelnuts, crushed


Take the roasted pumpkin out of the refrigerator & let come to room temperature. Trust me, it is much more pleasant to work with! You want to get the pumpkin into sort of a puree type paste. A ricer would probably work fantastic here but alas, I don't have one so I used the trusty immersion blender to get rid of any large chunks and worked it down a bit with two forks. It doesn't have to be perfectly smooth, like pumpkin pie filling (blech). Let's call it rustic.
 In a very large bowl, mix together 4c pumpkin, 3 c flour and the salt. Add the eggs and olive oil and mix well. I usually start out with a fork & end up using my hands. I'm a gal without a KitchenAid mixer.

Anyway, you want to end up with a soft but not sticky dough. Add flour a little bit at a time. Don't end up with an overly stiff dough like I did.
No biggie; I just added a bit more olive oil & a few flecks of water. Less flour would have let the roasted pumpkin shine through, though. Next time.

Lightly dust counter top & hands with floor. Scoop out a bit of dough & cover remainder. Roll into a long log, finger thick, and slice into 1 inch pieces. I just used fork tines to make pretty little ridges but you could really skip that all together. Repeat with remaining dough.

This makes a fair amount of gnocchi but they freeze beautifully. Lightly dust a cookie sheet or two with flour so the gnocchi doesn't stick, and place them on the sheets without touching one another. Pop in the freezer long enough that they harden a bit and then they can be stored in a baggie or container in the freezer.

To serve:
Drop handful of gnocchi at a time in salted boiling water. They will rise to the top of the pot when cooked; just scoop them out with a slotted spoon. In the meantime, brown a bit of butter in a pan until it begins to darken & smell nutty. Remove from heat, add chopped toasted hazelnuts, and toss with cooked gnocchi.
(Sometimes I cheat & toss the gnocchi into the frying pan with the browned butter. Just enough that it blisters & crisps the outside. No one else likes it this way - that's ok, more for me. Also, a handful of fresh chopped sage tossed into the browned butter is amazing.)

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Dark Days Challenge: Pumpkin Soup

Yes, I'm still behind & back dating posts...

Until recently, I despised pumpkin. When I started focusing on local foods & eating with the seasons, I knew I would have to ahem, expand my palate. Pumpkin was my last hold out.
I finally realized that like tomatoes, my dislike of pumpkin was a texture not a flavor thing. Also, savory is better than sweet.

ROASTED PUMPKIN SOUP
 I tend to play it fast & loose with soup. Whatever is on hand is what goes in and I don't really measure anything. Leeks instead of shallots would be yummy. Half pumpkin, half acorn squash might be good. Spices? A pinch here, a dab of this. Whatever strikes your fancy. Be careful about sugar levels though. Some of the sugar pumpkins are plenty sweet on their own, so season to taste. You can always sweeten it up at the end.
Ingredients   (non-local in italics) 
Sugar pumpkin, 2 smallish
onion
shallot
garlic
olive oil
vegetable and/or chicken stock
heavy cream
maple syrup

nutmeg
cardamom
cumin
saffron
salt & pepper
 
Heat oven to 375.
Cut pumpkins in half and remove seeds & stringy fibers. Slice into quarters (or eighths, depending on size of your gourds), place in baking pan & drizzle generously with olive oil, tossing to coat. Leaving the skins on, slice onion and shallot in half and slice top off of head of garlic. Drizzle with olive oil, making sure papery bits have enough oil so they won't burn.

Roast until soft & tender (approx 20-30 minutes), then let cool enough to handle.
 Once cooled, scrape flesh from pumpkin pieces. (Roast & scrape extra and refrigerate. Pumpkin gnocchi up next!)

Place half of roasted onion, half of roasted shallot & maybe a tsp of roasted garlic in soup pot. Add the rest of the mashed pumpkin and 3 cups stock, and puree using hand blender. Add a few threads of saffron, if you have it. (Not too much - it's expensive! I'm not sure I could even taste it but it does give the soup a richer color & it makes me feel fancy.) Add a pinch each of cumin & cardamom and few pinches freshly grated nutmeg. Add salt & pepper to taste. Add some of the oil that the vegetable were roasted in.

Heat on medium-low for approx. half hour. Drizzle in a bit of maple syrup (or brown sugar). Taste as you go, adding more roasted onion, shallot or garlic as you see fit and more stock to reach desired consistency. (Man, do I love my immersion blender for stuff like this! It's just a cheapie that I've had forever & it may need replacing soon. I singed the cord on a burner the other day. Anyone have a favorite replacement?) Before serving, add a bit of heavy cream (maybe 1/4c) and stir until heated throughout.
It won't win any beauty contests (yeah, it looks disturbingly like baby food) but it changed my mind about pumpkin. Although I still hate pumpkin pie.