Recipe Redux: Pumpkin Gnocchi with Garam Masala Sauce

It's Fall!  Even if you can't feel it in the air yet (I live in Texas), the commercial world lets you know by selling pumpkin-flavored *everything*...in baked goods, coffee and ice cream.  I don't buy a lot of these items because they are just so disappointing, either too little pumpkin flavor or too fake.


So how to satisfy my Fall tastebuds?

Add pumpkin to my own dishes!  In my house we put it in pancakes, muffins and even sauces.  But my recent favorite was pumpkin gnocchi (nn-yoh-key).  A true Italian chef or grandmother will scoff at my technique (or even that I'm using pumpkin instead of potato) but I believe in approaching things you've never done before with joy and not worrying about stuff like that.

Not only is gnocchi easy to make, it is a blast for your kids to help with too!

Pumpkin Gnocchi

Ingredients:

1 cup canned organic Pumpkin
2 cups flour (you can use non-wheat flour too but avoid rice flour--it gets too gummy)
1 egg, beaten

Sauce: 
Just enough olive oil to coat pan
1 Tbsp Butter
1 tsp Garam Masala (I use McCormick's pre-mixed blend)
Salt to taste

Add pumpkin, egg and 1 1/2 cups flour to a bowl and mix together until flour is moist.  Add the last half cup gradually.  Depending on where you live, what the humidity is like that day and even your flour, you may not need it all..or you may need more.  My nana taught me that with any dough, it's about *feel* and not exact measurements.  The dough should pull away from the bowl but still be a little sticky.  Flour your hands and place on a floured flat surface.  Knead lightly until the dough comes together.

  Split the dough in half.  Put one half aside.  Split your half again and roll each into a 1 inch thick strip.

Then take a knife or other tool to cut into 1/2-1 inch squares.  Nope, it's not perfect--unless you define perfection by the fact that your child helped you make this.

Toss some extra flour in a bowl and put the gnocchi in to coat.  Don't worry about the flour coating.  It will help prevent sticking when you are forming their shape and the excess just 'washes' off when you cook the gnocchi.

There are lots of things you can do to make the gnocchi shape...from a simple fork indentation to using an egg slicer without cutting all the way through the dough.

 

Add these little guys to a pot of boiling water and cook for approximately 3 minutes or until they float to the top.

Meanwhile...for the sauce:

Heat a large pan, add a thin layer of olive oil and 1 Tbsp butter until melted.
Add at least 1 tsp garam masala which is a mixture of spices including coriander, cumin, cardamom and cinnamon.  It is often used in Indian cooking and is incredibly tasty with pumpkin.  (If your kids don't like spice-leave it out.  No big deal.)

Remove gnocchi from boiling water, drain and add to pan.  Brown gnocchi on either side until a little crispy and coated in sauce.  Remove, salt to taste and eat immediately!