Every time fall rolls around my CSA box starts to include lots of squash. Typically this is acorn or butternut squash, but this year the box included kabocha squash. I’m never really sure what to do with winter squash. The fall el nino was 1 he was very willing to eat pureed squash. However, neither his father nor I are great fans of winter squash as a vegetable. So most of the time I make squash bread with it. Sometimes I make “fake” pumpkin pie with it.
This year I was looking for something new and different to do with the squash. I decided that perhaps squash gnocchi might be a good option. So I found a recipe from Martha Stewart to try. Gnocchi is a labor intensive thing to make because each piece has to be handled. Also it is VERY delicate and so if you aren’t going to cook and eat it immediately, freezing it is a bit of pain. The easiest way to freeze it is to put the individual pieces of gnocchi on parchment on a large cookie sheet and freeze it. Once the gnocchi is frozen you can put it into a freezer bag to keep in the freezer. Once key thing to remember though is you have to cook it frozen! If you thaw it in the bag, then all the pieces will stick together and make a giant mess.
Originally I was going to make this squash gnocchi for Christmas Eve but one thing led to another and I ended up not having enough time to prepare the dough. So it ended up that Christmas morning, after opening presents, here I was rolling out, cutting and crimping gnocchi. In some respect it was the best holiday gift I could get, time to cook something complex that I’d never made before. The downside was that I didn’t want to eat the gnocchi when I made it. So into the freezer it went. After New Year’s the gnocchi will make a reappearance. The biggest question is when and what kind of sauce am I going to make to top it?!