dana shortt gourmet shop
55 Erb Street East
Unit 101
Waterloo, Ontario
N2J 4K8

phone: 519-880-1555
email: retail@danashortt.ca
web: www.danashortt.ca

published: october 27, 2010

an adult halloween treat

recipe: pumpkin gnocchi with walnut sage cream sauce

Although I'd never describe myself as a pack rat, I’ve noticed that I have a hard time parting with certain things: any “artwork” made by my son John, greeting cards, and, to nobody’s surprise, recipes.

I’ve collected an astonishing number of recipes over the years. I have about 15 binders, each sorted by course or theme (soups, salads, entrees, food as gift, Mediterranean and so forth), a file folder system for recipes from magazine clippings or the newspaper, a “sacred” recipe journal which is used only for family or cherished recipes, a box of recipes from the cooking classes that I’ve taught over the years, and a large bin for recipes that have yet to be filed.

And as I’m typing this I realize that I haven’t yet described my system for my food shop and catering recipes. Don’t worry, I won’t.

Every so often, I thumb through the various recipes for inspiration. I recently reviewed my “Fall/Halloween” binder (I’m not crazy, just organized, right?) and a couple recipes jumped out at me.

The first was “scary” Halloween spiders — these will be a fun snack for John to enjoy on Oct. 31. The second was pumpkin gnocchi with walnut cream sauce.

While at chef school at George Brown College, I took full advantage of their amazing magazine collection, and must have photocopied at least 300 recipes. This is one of those recipes, and I can’t believe that it’s taken me almost 10 years to make it because it sounds so delicious.

I’ve adapted the recipe, using a combination of pumpkin, russet and sweet potato, adding garlic, shallots and sage to the cream sauce and a touch of gorgonzola to finish.

Feel free to omit the gorgonzola if you don’t like blue cheese — but don’t tell me because then I will think you’re crazy.

This would be a great grown-up meal to enjoy on Oct. 31. Don’t be afraid if you’ve never made gnocchi before. Even though you’ve likely only ordered it in a restaurant, it’s not at all hard to make at home.

pumpkin gnocchi with walnut sage cream sauce
recipe adapted from Bon Appetit magazine

ingredients

• 1 10-ounce russet potato, to yield about 1 cup mashed russet
• 1 14-ounce sweet potato, to yield about 1 1/3 cups mashed sweet potato
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree from can or pumpkin
• 1/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• freshly cracked pepper, to taste
• 1 1/2 -2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 shallot, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups whipping cream (35 per cent)
• 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and finely ground in cuisinart
• 3-4 tablespoons of fresh sage, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• finely grated parmesan
• cheese or gorgonzola to finish

method (for gnocchi)

• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside.
• Cook sweet potato and russet potato in microwave until soft, about 8 minutes. Let cool slightly and remove and discard potato skins. Place peeled potatoes into a large bowl, add pumpkin. Mash with potato masher or wooden spoon until smooth. Add parmesan cheese, egg, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
• Add 1 1/2 cups of flour to the potato mixture, stirring with a spoon until incorporated. Knead dough, adding more flour as necessary, until mixture forms a smooth but slightly sticky dough.
• Note: I used 1 1/2 cups of flour in total, and used the remaining 1/2 cup for dusting.
• Cut dough in 6 pieces. Form one piece of dough into a 1/2 inch thick rope on a lightly floured surface.
• Cut rope into 1/2 inch pieces. Repeat with remaining 5 pieces of dough. Gently press fork tines into each piece of gnocchi to make ridges on one side (like the ridges on peanut butter cookies). Transfer gnocchi to baking sheets.
• Add one-third of gnocchi to a pasta pot of well salted boiling water and stir. Cook until they float to the surface, about 3-5 minutes. Remove gnocchi with a slotted spoon to transfer to a bowl or dish off the heat. Cook all gnocchi in the same manner.

method (for sauce)

• Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat until foamy.
• Add shallots and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
• Add cream, cook for 3-4 minutes until frothy and slightly thickened. Add ground walnuts, sage and salt and pepper to taste.
• Add gnocchi to sauce and stir to combine. Divide amongst six plate, if serving as a main course, or eight if serving as a first course, and top with parmesan and/or gorgonzola cheese.

scary halloween spider snacks

ingredients

• peanut butter
• round crackers
• pretzel sticks
• chocolate chips or raisins

method

• spread some peanut butter onto a round cracker
• fan 4 pretzel rods on each side of cracker for the legs
• top with another round cracker
• spread a bit more peanut butter on the top cracker and use 2 chocolate chips or raisins for the eyes