The first pasta I ever made at home was gnocchi. It helped demystify the art of making homemade pasta for me, and it helped me understand something vital about Italian cuisine. You see, I had thought that making gnocchi or any kind of pasta was very hard and very time-consuming. It is neither. Like almost all Italian food, it is actually quite simple. Not easy, but simple, which is not the same at all.

The very first time I attempted to make gnocchi, I succeeded in making gnocchi. That’s to say it wasn’t the greatest gnocchi ever made, to most Italian standards it was probably even pretty bad. Still, it tasted good, much better than the premade stuff from the store.

The point I am getting at is that Italian food might be simple to make, but it is very difficult to master. A point proved by the fact that every Italians favorite cook is their nonna (grandma), or so it certainly seems. Because what do nonnas have that we as novices of Italian cooking don’t have? Experience. Tons of it.

We might never become masters of rolling pasta like the nonnas, but I’m damn well going to continue to try. Things don’t have to be perfect to be good, and when I want perfect I’ll save up and take a trip to Italy.

For this gnocchi recipe, we relied on classic flavor combinations with roasted butternut squash, sage, thyme, and parmesan cheese.

Yield: 4 Servings

Gnocchi, Sage & Butternut Squash Recipe

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A perfectly simply combination of classic flavours.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 Medium Sized Potatoes
• 10dl / 4 Cups All-purpose Flour
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Butternut Squash
• Fresh Thyme
• Sage
• Olive Oil
• Pecorino Cheese
• 2 Garlic Cloves
• Salt & Pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400f / 200°C.
2. Cut the butternut squash however you want. I chose to leave the skin on and cut lengthwise but you can do whatever you want here. Cubes, slices or even just cutting them in half.
3. Coat with olive oil and sprinkle over salt. Rub a handful of thyme and 5-6 sage leaves on the flesh of the butternut squash, and leave the herbs on top. Put them in the oven and roast until the flesh is tender and the edges are slightly burnt.
4. While the butternut squash is roasting, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Peel the potatoes and cook until tender.
5. Drain the potatoes and leave to let the moisture evaporate for a couple of minutes, and mash the potatoes. You can use a potatoe masher but I prefer a fork as it is easier to keep the mash light and fluffy.
6. Combine the potatoes, eggs and flour and knead to a dough. Don't overwork the dough. Seperate the dough into handful sized balls and work into cylinder shapes. Cut the cylinder into small gnocchi sized pieces. You might want to cut them a bit smaller than you think because they will expand slightly when cooked. This part takes some practice to get perfect.
7. Now bring a large pot of salted water to a boil again. Drop in the gnocchi, you don't want to crowd the pot so it's better to do it in 2 or 3 rounds. Just as the gnocchi rises to the surface, they are finished. Drain and set aside.
8. In a frying pan, melt a knob of butter over a medium heat. Crush the garlic cloves and add to the pan with a small handful of sage leaves and thyme. When the butter is starting to turn slightly brown and nutty, add the gnocchi and cook for a few minutes until golden.
9. Top the gnocchi with the roasted butternut squash and parmesan or pecorino cheese.

Notes

Gnocchi and cheese go very well together. Almost every combination is a smash hit!

Whole roasted garlic bulbs are a quick and easy way to take your cooking to the next level. Sure, you can use raw garlic but just roasting them for 30 minutes will bring out so much more flavor.

It is perfect for any kind of mash or creamy puree. Or anywhere you would use garlic.

Garlic is also very good for you, whether it is raw or roasted so you can eat as much as you want with a clean conscience. Garlic is proven to lower blood preassure, cholesterol and have a anti-inflammatory effect.

How to Store Roasted Garlic and How Long Does Roasted Garlic Last

Roasted garlic can be stored for up to two weeks. Simply cover the roasted garlic in a container with olive oil. Shut tightly and put the roasted garlic in the fridge. It is very important that you don’t store it in room temperature as that can cause the production of bacteria.

How to Make Whole Oven Roasted Garlic Bulbs

Oven Roasted Garlic Bulbs

March 20, 2019

Servings: 1

Prep: 5 min

Cook: 30 min

Total: 35 min

Difficulty: Easy

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By: Daniel Kling Lorentsen

Ingredients

• Garlic Bulbs
• Olive Oil

Directions

• Step 1 Preheat the oven to 400°F / 200°C
• Step 2 Cut the top off the garlic bulb.
• Step 3 Put the garlic on a tray with aluminum foil underneath.
• Step 4 Drizzle over olive oil, don’t hold back.
• Step 5 Put the garlic bulbs into the oven.
• Step 6 Check every 10 minutes. If the garlic bulbs are looking dry, drizzle some more oil over.

Sundays are for roasts. Before i started working in the restaurant business, I used to work in a bookstore on Sundays. And often when I came home from work there would be a warm roast waiting for me. There’s no mistaking what’s for dinner when you open the door, and the smell hits you.

In a sense, roasts are food for the nostalgic, like me. Not only will the smell of roast take me back to those days of working Sundays in the bookstore, but simultaneously back to my grandmother’s house. Where we would enter on cold winter evenings and the aroma of the roast would hit like a warm and welcoming wall, dispersing any and all of winters chill. (more…)