Pumpkin gnocchi for lunch

 

It is pumpkin time again, and a large Turk's Turban was split and roasted on Wednesday in preparation for a big Mexican inspired soup when several friends from the WI came over for the book club.  Many of the pieces have been stored away in the freezer for future use, with some still in the fridge.  My sister asked if I knew of any pasta recipes and I set to to find some links for her.  This led to my making some pumpkin gnocchi for our lunch today.

To get to the base mix, I had to process the baked pumpkin.  I just have a small attachment to my hand held stick blender, but by diving up the mixture of around 300g baked pumpkin, it was possible.  The pumpkin baked up very firm by that I mean not at all watery, and the mixture was very dry, so I added two eggs.  Just around 200g of OO flour kneaded into the mixture gave just the right consistency.  The recipe I found on line was just a guide, and it didn't have salt, but I definitely would add salt next time, neither did it have any eggs, but since we were having this as a main course the extra protein was good.

We had half of these gnocchi for our lunch, and the other half are now being frozen down. Several of the recipes I looked up mentioned a dressing of butter and sage.  Here two pans are ready to start the cooking: the large frying pan of water was to boil the gnocchi, and the small one for preparing the butter and sage.

I treated myself and a friend to something from the Wells Food Festival just last week, and decided to try them for the first time.  I gently crushed the soft black salted Kampot pepper corns in a little olive oil and added a few fine strands of sage which I have gently heated in a little oi.  before melting the butter for the remainder of the gnocchi sauce.

At the same time as frying up the freshly picked sage from the garden I added in a good measure of roasted pumpkin seeds which I have ready to add to salads etc., and the whole was topped with some grated goat's cheese.

The dressing of sage and pepper infused olive oil was drizzled over the chopped tomatoes as a side salad and placed within the bowl....

Improvements for next time: salt the gnocchi and also the poaching liquid.

Use that dressing of sage, olive oil and bruised Kampot pepper corns to dress fresh sliced tomatoes served with anything else, it was delicious!

Possible food pairings: pumpkin gnocchi poached in a sweeten sauce and topped with toasted pecan nuts and maple syrup, alongside a dollop of yogurt?  

Years ago on holiday in  Austria in a traditional hill side hotel, we were served a simple dessert of dumplings with a vanilla sauce which was surprisingly good and obviously memorable..it was dressed with a scattering of toasted poppyseeds.  

Pumpkin Soup

 I last made this soup for our book club, and had frozen half of the roasted pumpkin.  I'm using up stuff from the freezer and it was easy to turn and remake the soup, since I had printed out the recipe and it was floating around the kitchen drawer. 

This is before the Spiced Pumpkin and coconut soup has been whizzed and had the coconut added. I'm simply posting this here as I find it easy to use my own blog as a repository for when I have pumpkins to use up. 

Soup is one of those lunches that are so easy, and just right for a coolish day like today.  This week's daily loaf is a sourdough seeded half wholemeal loaf which will suit this very well.

January Sticky Buns

How could I call these Autumnal Sticky Buns when it is January....

A revisit of Autumnal Sticky Buns from Jane Mason, which I first made back in 2015, was part of a large pumpkin bake today.  This time I shaped the buns as for 'free standing' Chelsea buns as I wanted to freeze them individually.  I didn't bake them with the underneath goo, so put the pecan nuts on top of the filling before rolling them up.  A little glaze with the remaining sugar and lemon 'sauce' from left over from making the crystallized candied lemon peel. (Waste nothing)

I had already baked the pumpkin before Christmas, so it was just a matter of defrosting and allowing the pumpkin to reach room temperature.

The first bake of the morning was a big batch of cheesy pumpkin twisted sticks , link to the recipe,filled with herbs and chopped olives....sorry they are all batched up and already placed in the freezer.  Since first devising this form and recipe, and having shared them with friends, and found them exceptionally good, rewarmed from frozen, they have just got to be a standby in the freezer.

Pumpkin bread sticks recipe

A few weeks ago I made some bread sticks for a buffet meal at our local gardening club, and found the technique so useful for keeping bits whole and interesting, but within the confines of the dough.  Here I offer up a savoury pumpkin dough finger bread, which can encapsulate various bits and pieces.  The possibilities dependent on ingredients available and your taste.  I do like the taste of Nigella Seeds, and with the pumpkin dough they work very well.  The addition of coriander is a great taste, but for those who dislike that herb, may I suggest oregano, or sage?  Roasted red pepper scattered over grated goat's cheese is also an excellent filling.

SAVOURY PUMPKIN AND CHEESE BREAD FINGERS


300g Roasted pumpkin
50g good olive oil
1 egg
12g salt
2 tsp nigella seeds
100g polenta uncooked or maizemeal
550g white bread flour
20g fresh yeast mixed with 50g water

 200g of your cheese of choice, I used strong local cheddar the real Cheddar Cheeese from Cheddar
A good handful of coriander leaves
50g sunflower seeds, set to soak just before kneading the dough, to prevent scorching
Egg wash
Black sesame seeds
Cayenne Pepper


First wash and chop, and cook your pumpkin by baking it in the oven in even sized chunks.  Then as it is cools enough to handle, cut off the peel and remove the seeds.  You can freeze any left over, or keep it in the fridge ready to use another day.   I like to bake my pumpkin the previous day, and mix the dough in the morning, then bake by lunchtime.

Into a large bowl, sift the white flour and the polenta to incorporate air, tip anything left in the sieve into the bowl.

Add 300g of the prepared pumpkin to a small pan, add the olive oil, and warm gently to about 40 C.  Either mash well, or if you have a hand-blender, reduce it to a smooth-ish puree.  Add the salt, and the nigella seeds, then add the egg, and mix well.

Add the contents of the pan to the wheat and maize mixture, then add the fresh yeast and water mix, add a little more water to bring everything together to a kneadable dough.  Knead for about ten minutes by hand, then leave to rise for about 1.5 hrs.

Roll out the dough to a long oblong.  Here it was about 80cm x 30cm.  You will need to keep the work-surface lightly floured to prevent sticking.  Scatter the toppings as per the picture, then fold the bottom third up, then the top third back over.

I use my steel scaper, or you could use a knife, but be careful not to damage your work-surface.  Cut thin strips.  This quantity yields about 36 bread sticks or finger rolls.

Have two or three baking sheets, covered with baking parchment, ready to receive the twisted sticks.  As you twist them, you may stretch them to the length that suits you.  Place the the tins covered, to rest, for about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 220 C.  Brush the sticks generously with egg glaze then scatter the sesame seeds on half and cayenne pepper on the rest.  The black sesame seeds give a good colour contrast with the yellow pumpkin dough and green herbs.

Bake for about 15 minutes, then place on a cooling rack.  They freeze very well, and are lovely served warmed up.

Perfect supper dish...

Baked butternut squash with hazelnuts, goat's cheese and herbs: we ended up with half left and reaheated next day for lunch.

I've had a comment from one of my IAVOM buddies about a recipe.  Its from Good, Good Food by Sarah Raven.  Sarah Raven is a leading light in gardening in the UK, and she also likes food, and she was a Doctor.  There are some superb recipes in the book, in addition I have found the notes on nutrition and health very informative.

I am a bit of an intuitive home cook, and am inspired by reading cookery books, but don't necessarily follow recipes.  For my version of Sarah's Stuffed Butternut Squash, I sliced it in half, left the seeds in, then popped it on a baking sheet in the oven at 180C, having first wiped some oil over the surface.  It took about a hour to get soft.  Of course, whilst this was happening, I was busy in the garden!

After discarding the seeds, I used a desert spoon to scoop out most of the flesh into a bowl.  There I just mixed in some green olives stuffed with lemons, and cubed up some goat's cheese, added plenty of pepper, and chopped and sliced rosemary and sage.  I had soaked the hazelnuts overnight, then tossed them in some ras el hanout, you could use any spice, or no spice, and dry roasted them in the oven for about 15 minutes whilst the butternut squash was roasting.  I then put the stuffing back in the shells, making sure the cheese was more or less on top, so that it could brown a little.

I had roasted 100g of hazel nuts but felt that was too many...planning to make a small batch of pesto with herbs for pasta later in the week, with the remaining.

When out of the oven, a gentle drizzle of olive oil, more hazel nuts and a sprinkling of dried ground seaweed.

The olives, spice, seaweed were my additions, and since I didn't have any soft goat's cheese at the time, used hard cheese.  You could do something similar with sweet potatoes.  Runner beans picked minutes before were from the garden.

If you make this..and love fresh tasty food you are bound to love it.  As a waste not want not...left over could be blitzed and made into a soup!  Roasted butter nut squash and cheese soup!

Pumpkin Gnocchi

A few weeks ago, I picked up a collection of Pumpkins from Mary Arden's Farm.  We went there and enjoyed a day of activities including carving a Pumpkin for Halloween.

The first carved pumpkin was soon dispatched into soup, and this last week, I popped the second pumpkin into the oven after my bread came out, for about half an hour. 

Just washed then cut in half and placed on a tray, I find this the easy way to deal with pumpkin, as it so much easier to remove the seeds, and the skin when the flesh is soft.

The following day, I had little left in the fridge but some odds and ends, three rasher of bacon, some Pecorino Cheese, and few olives, and this baked pumpkin.  I wanted to go out shopping, but I thought if I cooked when I got back in, Mr S would be far too hungry, and I too tired, so I thought of what I cook before going shopping. 

I was in a rush, and did not have time to search my recipes, and just thought that if I can make gnocchi with potato, why not with pumpkin?  I took 500g of baked pumpkin, added some salt and pepper, fresh thyme and sage from the garden, and mixed it well with a beaten egg.  Then I added about 300 to400g of oo pasta flour, and rolled out into long strips onto the semolina strewn surface.  I cut them into little parcels, and used the edge of my fork to make little patterns.

This is half of the batch, which I froze, yes, gnocchi freeze very well, and they can go straight into the pan from the freezer.

It takes only a few minutes and four to five for them to cook.

I dressed them in the bowl, with a couple of spoonfuls of pesto, and topped them with pan fried strips of bacon, and sliced olives,

then a little grated cheese to finish.  On the plate and ready to eat within 20 minutes of wondering what would be for supper...and Mr S did the washing up whilst I went shopping.  The gnocchi were wonderfully light and fluffy and very tasty too.  This will be in my what to do with pumpkins list.

I thought I was being very original but if something is really good, others will have most probably thought of doing the same thing too..and with the magic of Google I found this to be so!

Pumpkin, Walnut & Blue Cheese Bread

Another recipe from Peter Sidwell's Simply Good Bread. 

Using some pre-baked pumpkin from the freezer, first thawed of course, I followed the recipe for this one, using blue goat's cheese, and refraining from adding anything further like fennel seeds. 

I made two free form loaves from the quantity given, so that one loaf can be put in the freezer and saved for later.  I'm just about to go downstairs and toast a few slices to have with some home made chicken liver pate made much earlier this morning, to go with salad, to have for our lunch.