Sunday, August 31, 2008

Butternut Squash Gnocchi

For me, the art of cooking just for Abby is often to use the little bits and pieces of leftovers around the house - it helps us waste less food, and it saves me time. This recipe is an example of putting what you have on hand to use.

Butternut Squash Gnocchi
Total time: 15-20 minutes

1/2 cup mashed potatoes (leftovers, or made from dried potato flakes)
1/4 cup mashed butternut squash (I keep frozen butternut squash in the freezer, or you could use a butternut squash baby puree)
1 egg yolk
4 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
pinch of curry powder
butter, grated Parmesan for serving

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Mix together the mashed potatoes, butternut squash, egg yolk, sugar, nutmeg, salt and curry powder in a small bowl to form a moist dough (add more flour if necessary). Drop the dough by rounded teaspoonfuls into the boiling water and let boil for about 2 minutes, until gnocchi rise to the surface of the water. You may need to do this in batches to keep gnocchi from sticking together. Remove the gnocchi with a slotted spoon to a serving bowl. Serve with butter and a little grated Parmesan cheese. Makes about 2 toddler-sized servings.

Abby ate these right up - and I helped her finish them! They were tasty and a lot less work than I thought they would be. I would not recommend using whole wheat (or white whole wheat) flour in this recipe - the taste is too strong and overpowering. These would make great finger foods for children who are learning to self-feed.

3 comments:

C. Beth said...

These look yummy. Do you think they'd still be good w/o curry powder? I've never had gnocchi so I don't know if curry is important to its flavor. Not a huge curry fan but everything else sounds really tasty.

Kara said...

These would be just fine without the curry! I just liked a little savory kick added in, but it's definitely not necessary.

C. Beth said...

I made these today, actually with acorn squash. Ana hasn't tried them yet (we had, um, an INCIDENT at lunch, and she was sent to her room for her nap early), but I really liked them! Thanks! (I even used a pinch of curry!)