Last Friday night, we went to one of our favorite restaurants in Saluzzo called Terra Gemella with our friends. We are lucky that it is right down the street from our house so we can even pop in once in a while to take home a nice bottle of wine. I have already written a post on this charming restaurant and now I want to give you the delicious recipe given to me by the chef/owner Romina. For about a year now I have been desperately wanting to try Gnocchi di Zucca (Squash Gnocchi) but in Piemonte its often the plain old gnocchi with cheese sauces. Well, this was finally the night to satisfy my craving! And it was mmmm nmmmm good!



Romina’s Gnocchi Di Zucca With Fonduta:

  • 500 grams of peeled squash (about 2 cups)
  • 500 grams of potatoes (specifically from the mountains if you can!)
  • 300 grams of flour (1 1/3 cups)
  • pinch of salt?
Wash and peel the squash or pumpkin and cut in half.
Slice squash and bake in the oven at 350 * F until cooked. (about 30 min)
Take the potatoes and wash, boil and drain them.
Rinse them under cold water and peel the skin off.
On a cutting board sprinkle flour and salt
Mash the potatoes and blend the squash making a purèe
Mix together mashed potatoes and squash purèe kneading it into a ball.
The dough should have the right soft but not sticky consistency to shape into a cylinder.
Cut a slice from the cylinder and roll out a breadstick shape
Cut in 1.5 centimeter pieces and boil in salted water.
When the gnocchi pop up to the top of the water they are done.
As you can see, there are no eggs and cheese in the dough thanks to the moist squash purèe. However, you can melt butter, cheese and a little bit of milk if you want to make a “fonduta” to dress them up a bit.
Of course you can’t forget some good Piemontese Barbera! We had a nice bottle of Barbera D’Alba made by Cà Viola, the perfect pairing for this Fall/Winter dish. This was the first time I was overwhelmed by a wine’s dried flower/rose aroma! It smelled like sticking my nose into a cedar bowl full of potpourri! Very nice!
P.S. If you have any gnocchi recipes feel free to share:)
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