Pumpkin Gnocchi

I've done a recipe for gnocchi, the delicious little potato dumplings, before, but this one is a bit different, and uses - yup - pumpkin instead of potato. My previous attempts at making Pumpkin gnocchi have always been a bit disappointing, coming out heavy & doughy, when gnocchi should be light & tender. This would be due to the rather watery nature of pumpkin, which would have me throwing in so much extra flour to the sticky mixture that I basically ended up with an unleavened bread mixture.

So the answer - drop gnocchi! Not 'proper' gnocchi, but teaspoons of gnocchi mixture dropped into boiling water. The results are a bit Cthulhu-ish, but delicious.

Pumpkin Gnocchi

500g Pumpkin, cooked & well mashed
1 egg, beaten
2 heaped tbsp plain flour
25g grated cheese (optional, it can be hard cheese, soft cheese, goats cheese, anything you've got lying around)

Ina bowl, mix together the pumpkin & egg. If you're adding cheese, nows the time to do it. Add salt & pepper (about a tsp of each, more or less if you prefer. You can add herbs too if you like, parsley or basil go well with pumpkin, or chilli flakes). Stir in the flour. You may need a bit extra, you're after a sort of stiff cake batter consistency, sticky, but fairly firm.
Bring a large pan of water to the boil, and drop the batter, one teaspoon at a time, into the water (I like to scoop up a spoonful of batter in one teaspoon, then use a second teaspoon to scrape the batter off into the boiling water so it forms a mostly-roundish shape, and less Lovecraftian Horrors*). Don't overcrowd the pan, and scoop out with a slotted spoon when they rise to the surface & waggle their extremities at you.
Serve warm with some kind of sauce, cheese, lemon or chilli works well.
I baked them with courgettes, mushrooms, onion & chilli. And lots of cheese.


Om nom nom!

*Though what better Halloween recipe than 'Zhar & Lloigor in tomato sauce... I mean, the blood of the nameless. And cheese.'