Fen and Morrow’s Gnocchi

Half of a butternut squash

 

1 egg

 

2–3 cups flour

 

Salt

 

Pepper

 

 

 

1. Place the half-squash face down on a baking sheet. Rub it all over with butter. Roast at 425 degrees for 25 minutes.

2. Remove the squash from the oven and let it cool completely.

3. Remove the peel and mash the squash into a smooth paste. Form the paste into a mound and form a well in the center.

4. Crack 1 egg into the well. Stir with fingers to combine.

5. Add flour in batches, working the flour in until a sticky, firm dough forms.

6. Knead for 1–2 minutes.

7. Form into a ball and rest for 20 minutes. *This is the perfect amount of time for a hard conversation.

8. Cut the ball into eight equal parts. Roll each part out into a snake the width of someone’s thumb. Cut each snake into 1-inch sections using a knife or pasta cutter.

9. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Add the gnocchi in batches, stirring gently once to prevent sticking. Once the gnocchi bob to the top of the water, remove.

10. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Once the butter starts to brown, fry gnocchi in batches.

11. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and eat piping hot.

  

A recipe card, typewritten on an index card, stapled to a torn sheet of notebook paper with a typewritten recipe on it. Both are weathered, torn, stained, and annotated. The card is on top of a hefty wooden cutting board, and is surrounded by a bowl of lemons, a dish of eggshells, a cut lemon, a repurposed breath mints tin containing mixed pills including estrogen/estradiol and antidepressants, and scattered flour. Much of the recipe card is obscured by the eggshells. Visible recipe text is as follows (all is typewritten unless otherwise indicated; see story text for recipe in full): On the recipe card: a handwritten note reading ‘rub all over with oil including the peel!!!’ is overlapped by a handwritten note in different handwriting, in red marker, which reads: “WI / IL border crossing 04:30 AM Bring CASH and MEDS 4 guard don’t be late!!!!!!!”; The index card overlaps the recipe page. The recipe visible on the page is as follows: 5. Add flour in batches, working the flour in until a sticky, firm dough forms. 6. Knead 1–2 mins; 7. Form into a ball and rest for 20 mins; 8. Cut the ball into 8 equal parts. Roll each part out into a snake the width of your thumb. Cut each snake into 1-inch sections using a knife or pasta cutter. 9. [after this point, the recipe card is folded and obstructs part of each line.] Bring a large pot of water to a rolling b. Add the gnocchi in batches, stirring gent … void sticking. Once the gnocchi bob … the water, remove/drain and serve. Partially obscured handwritten annotation reads: Fry after boiling to [text obscured]