Pumpkin, spinach, gnocchi? Together or apart?
"Italy's supreme comfort food, takes on an astounding variety of textures, shapes, and flavors. It has scores of different names and comes from nearly every corner of the country." Saveur
I suddenly see that I am going from the food of the rich to the food of the poor because gnocchi are certainly that. They are certainly not gold. And yet - gnocchi are exceedingly trendy, and pumpkin gnocchi in particular. And I'm talking about gnocchi and in particular pumpkin gnocchi because I have this large pumpkin in the fridge which will have to be used before it goes off and some spinach too - also going off before too long.
The other day I made our favourite pumpkin soup and whilst checking I had the recipe right, from Bert Greene's book Greene on Greens I noticed a recipe for pumpkin gnocchi with prosciutto. And I do have some ham also going off. So an idea was taking shape, based on former experiences of making gnocchi. (I love Bert Greene's carrot gnocchi.) I thought I would be able to combine pumpkin, spinach and ricotta with maybe a bit of potato and then just serve with a tomato sauce. So I started to search my cookbooks for a recipe - surely I thought - this has been done before. After all it's not a very original idea. But try as I may I cannot find one.
There are lots of recipes for pumpkin gnocchi of course, or spinach gnocchi - with or without potatoes and/or ricotta. But none including the vital pumpkin and spinach in the gnocchi themselves. Lots with various sauces that include spinach - like the ones above but not a single one that combined the pumpkin and spinach in the gnocchi itself.
Why not, I am now wondering - because I'm still thinking of combining them. After all if you can do it with potatoes why not with pumpkin? Doesn't spinach go with pumpkin? Well yes people obviously think they go together because there are heaps of recipes that combine the two in one way or another. So I'm still thinking I shall follow my original idea - I'll just adapt a potato and spinach one I think, but I have to say I'm a bit worried. Why are there no recipes? Will the spinach make it too sloppy. Should one not have two tastes in the gnocchi/ But you can have potato and spinach, so why not pumpkin and spinach?
I dither and when I saw Nigel Slater had a potato gnocchi recipe with a very simple cream and spinach sauce, I was tempted to follow that path. And I may well still do that. Decisions, decisions.
When I looked at tips and tricks from here and there I see that it's probably a good idea to lighten the pumpkin with potato, which sounds a bit counterintuitive, but that's what they said. Ricotta lightens it too - and I shall now have to include ricotta because I have bought some and it won't keep. Though should I hang the ricotta for a bit as one author suggested? More decisions.
And yet more. Do I bake the pumpkin or boil it? Well I guess baking it (and the potato if used) would give it more taste. How much flour do I add? And here, almost everyone was very coy - just add it until you get the right texture seems to be the thing, though they don't all agree what is the right texture. The stickier and lighter the better I gather. And you add the flour last of all. I do suspect that this is where I fail when I make gnocchi. I think I add too much flour. And then they become too heavy and dense.
Roll it out like a sausage, cut it into pieces and indent with a fork - or simply scoop it into balls and throw it in the pot?
And last of all what kind of pumpkin? Well I have no idea what mine is so this is an irrelevant question. Well I know it's not butternut but that's it. It just grew on its own in the herb garden, took the whole thing over and produced one pumpkin which grew even though the central plant was dying. And actually it was still crawling out into the wider garden with flowers here and there that came to nothing. They are monsters.
There are lots of recipes out there for fairly standard kind of pumpkin gnocchi but there are a couple that are a bit more far out. The first is from Yotam Ottolenghi - of course. It's called Squash Gnocchi with Caraway and Black Garlic. Not that I know what black garlic is. I think this is a picture of it although I'm not sure. The recipe itself did not have one.
The second is not even for pumpkin - it's for beetrootAnd that has almost spinach too. Actually the beetroot leaves. It's from Saveur which has quite a few rather interesting variations on the gnocchi theme. This one is Beet and Ricotta Gnocchi with Wilted Beet Greens and Aged Balsamic. Such a pretentious title but it does look quite tempting.
Nigel Slater maintains the following must-haves with gnocchi (although he is talking about summer:
"Serve them with something light that feels right for the summer: a spoonful of the sweetest, creamiest ricotta (infuriatingly difficult to find, I grant you), hashed tarragon, parsley and chives, a smear of basil paste perhaps or a few gnarled, deep-scarlet tomatoes.
I want something salty in with my gnocchi, too. Olives (in summer, I use more green olives than black), a paste of chopped anchovies, capers and basil, or some shavings of pecorino.
Piquancy is a must for me: lemon zest and capers, pickled shallots, a blue-veined cheese or maybe a couple of slices of pickled walnuts."
Hate blue-veined cheese though I have to say a hint of gorgonzola is quite interesting and I just don't have any pickled shallots or walnuts. A slice of pickled walnut? And why can't he find "the sweetest, creamiest ricotta"? I guess he's talking quality stuff and the ricotta from the supermarket deli just wouldn't do - but surely he is surrounded by classy cheese shops that would have what he requires. (Black mark for Woolworths this morning though - no fresh full-fat ricotta (not without opening a box from the back store) and not very much light - which I resorted to - either.)
I shall be dithering until I come to actually make them. But I am pondering on a creamy sauce that includes the ham, mushrooms and cream that need to be used - with maybe spinach too. Or tomato ...
