gnocchi alla zucca
for 6
1 kg ripe onion squash, skin washed
Maldon salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 small dried red chillies, crumbled
2 teaspoons dried oregano
olive oil
750 g Desirée potatoes, scrubbed
3 large, organic free-range eggs, beaten
100 g semolina flour
½ nutmeg, freshly grated
100 g plain flour and polenta flour for dusting
to serve
Sage Butter (see here)
freshly grated Parmesan
Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5. Cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds, then cut into 2 cm thick slices. Season each slice with salt, black pepper, chilli and a little oregano and drizzle with a little olive oil. Bake in the preheated oven for 35–40 minutes or until soft and beginning to crisp around the edges.
Boil the potatoes in salted water until soft, then drain, peel and cool. Put the potatoes and pumpkin through a mouli and cool. Add the eggs, stir to mix, then sieve in the semolina flour. Gently fold together. Season, grate in the nutmeg and beat to form a stiffish dough.
Dust a surface with a mixture of the dusting flours. Divide the dough into four. Roll out each piece into a sausage 2 cm thick and cut at 3 cm lengths. Form into gnocchi by rolling each piece over the back of a fork.
Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil, add 1 tablespoon salt and cook the gnocchi in batches in simmering water. The gnocchi will come to the surface after 2–3 minutes, but allow them to cook on for a further 2–3 minutes. Drain and serve with the sage butter and Parmesan.