Pumpkin Gnocchi

This pumpkin gnocchi made with brown butter sauce is a great alternative to traditional gnocchi and is perfect during the fall.

Course Pasta

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 1 10

Total Time 1 15

Servings

Calories 533kcal

Author Ryan Beck

Ingredients

1 medium russet potato
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
1 large egg
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
3 tablespoon olive oil extra virgin
¼ lb pancetta, diced
6 tablespoon unsalted butter
¼ cup fresh oregano leaves, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 tablespoon whole milk
¼ reserved pasta water

Instructions

Poke holes in your potato. Wrap in a paper towel and microwave on high for 5-6 minutes or until soft. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes. Spoon the potato out of the skin and into a large bowl. (Make sure there is no skin!)
Add the pumpkin puree to the potato and mash together until smooth. Add the egg, flour, ½ cup Parmesan, salt and pepper. Stir until just combined. If dough seems too wet, add flour 1 tablespoon at a time until you can form the dough into a ball. (It should be sticky)
Generously flour a work service. Cut the dough into four equal pieces. Working with one piece of a dough at a time, roll the dough into a rope until it's about 1 inch thick. Cut the rope in 1 inch pieces and place on a floured baking sheet. Repeat until you have all the pieces cut.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the gnocchi. Cook for about 3 to 4 minutes, or until they float to the top. Drain cooked gnocchi into colander.
While gnocchi is boiling, bring 1 tablespoon olive oil in sauce pan to medium heat and cook pancetta until crisp. It should take 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a large nonstick skillet, heat 2 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat and add the gnocchi in a single layer. Cook for about 3 minutes until golden brown on bottom. Turn gnocchi and cook for an additional 3 minutes until golden brown. Remove from skillet and set aside.
In same skillet, bring heat to medium and add butter, cooking for about 3 minutes or until browned. Stir in the oregano and garlic and cook for an additional 30 seconds. Whisk in flour, cooking for 30 seconds then add milk and reserved pasta water. Add the gnocchi and toss in the remaining Parmesan and pancetta.

Notes

Add just enough flour. Let me be clear. While most times, you need 1 ½ cups of flour for this recipe, there are times you need slightly more or slightly less. Use either a wooden spoon or your hands to mix in the flour until just incorporated and where the dough forms a loaf. It should be a soft dough.
Don’t overmix. Just like anything with flour, if your overmix or knead too much, you’ll get a tougher gnocchi. It won’t be soft and pillowy. You want to mix until it just comes together.
Don’t make them perfect. Gnocchi doesn’t have to be perfect shapes or have ridges. Mine never look exactly the same but they taste great! Also you can skip the ridges. It’s time consuming and not worth the effort.
Sprinkle with flour when cutting and transporting. Gnocchi can get sticky if there isn’t flour sprinkled on it. As I’m rolling out the dough to cut and then cut into gnocchi and then transfer to a sheet, I sprinkle with flour to make sure it doesn’t stick. Learn from me as I didn’t do this in the past.
Boil until they float. When cooking the gnocchi, boil it until they float and then remove and add to a sauce.

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