Pumpkin Ricotta gnocchi (Gnocchi de Zucca e Ricotta)

Ingredients:

225g pumpkin purée (tinned or fresh)
250ml whole-milk ricotta cheese (or you can use my home-made ricotta cheese recipe to prepare your own)
2 large eggs
2 tsp sea salt
4 tbsp freshly-grated Parmesan or Pecorino-Romano cheese
350–475g fine cake flour (grade "oo" if you can find it)
2 tsp fresh sage, finely minced
50g unsalted butter, finely diced
freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
truffle oil, to taste

Method:

If making your own pumpkin puree, take a pumpkin or a butternut squash, halve and scoop out the seeds then lay face down on a baking tray. Transfer to an oven pre-heated to 170°C and bake for about 50 minutes, or until soft. Set aside to cool then scoop the flesh out of the skins with a fork nor spoon. Mash until smooth.

In a bowl, mix together the pumpkin purée, ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, salt and eggs. Add 250g of the flour and mix in with your hands. You should end up with a very sticky dough. Add another 75g of the flour and mix in. You are aiming for a dough that is still sticky to the touch, but which you can just about shape into a log. Continue adding flour until you reach this stage.

When the dough is ready, cover with a damp tea towel and set aside.

Bring a large pan of water to a boil and add enough water to it so that it just tastes salty. Reduce to a simmer and keep on the heat as you prepare the gnocchi.

Dust a large work surface with flour then divide the dough into four equal-sized pieces. Take the first piece and divide in half. Take one piece of the dough and roll into a sausage shape about 1.5cm thick. Using a harp knife cut into pieces just wider than the tines of a fork.

Dust the gnocchi with flour then use the forefinger of one hand to press the dumpling agains the tines of a fork so that the surface is nicely marked. Then allow the dumpling to naturally drop away from the fork (this will create depressions that your sauce can adhere to).

Repeat this process with the second piece of dough. Using a metal spatula or slotted spoon, gently pick up a few gnocchi at a time and drop them into the boiling water.

Boil the gnocchi until they float to the surface of the pan then remove with a slotted spoon. Set the cooked gnocchi on a baking tray and toss with just a little olive oil (this prevents then from sticking together).

Once all the gnocchi from your first dough piece have been cooked, repeat the process with the next piece, and then the next until all the gnocchi have been cooked. Heat half the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. When it stops frothing add a small drizzle of truffle oil. Add enough gnocchi to cover the surface of the pan in a single layer (this should be about half of them). Cook, undisturbed, for 90 seconds then sprinkle over half the sage. Cook for 60 minutes more then turn out onto serving plates. Dust with freshly-ground black pepper, and serve.

Repeat the cooking process with the remaining gnocchi. If your pan is small you will need to do this in several batches. In this case, turn the cooked gnocchi out onto a baking tray and set this in the oven to keep warm.