gourd city

I counted 3 squash sitting on my counter by Friday.  One kabocha from two weeks ago, a butternut from last week and a fresh one from this week.

Supposedly, squash gets sweeter as it's left to mature...so, you know...that was all in the plan... ;)

I saw a recipe in Sunset magazine that seemed like a good way to use the squash somewhat in disguise.  My kids love a lot of fruits and vegetables, but squash unfortunately isn't one of them.  Having some time this Sunday afternoon, I made a batch of squash gnocchi.  Some for tonight and the rest for the freezer.  

The basic recipe is like this:

• Cook a butternut squash.  You can roast it, steam it or microwave it.  I did the latter - poke holes all over and put it in the microwave on high for 10 minutes.  (Mine needed a bit more cooking afterwards).
  
• Scoop out the flesh and mash.  You need 2 cups.
  
• Season: salt, pepper, nutmeg, sage/marjoram/thyme.  You could have fun and add Indian spices - that would be yum.
• Add flour, 1 cup at a time.  Now, I used King Arthur's white whole wheat flour.  The recipe calls for 3.5 cups + dusting.  My squash took at least all of that...maybe even a bit more!
• Roll out into 'snakes', cut into 1/2" pieces.  
• Boil in salted water just until they float - no longer.

That's it!  I tossed ours with melted butter, parsley and lemon juice and topped with parmesan.

Beware: the dough remains a bit sticky.  I tried to do the Italian nonna thing by rolling each little gnoccho down a fork to get the grooves.  It didn't work so well...I do not recommend.  Just leave them in their little pillow form and enjoy.