Roasted Garlic and Pumpkin Gnocchi

With fresh herb butter sauce, fried ham, and pork belly

| Prep Time: 45 minutes | Pre-Cook Time: 35-45 minutes | Cook Time: 6-10 minutes |

Ingredients:

1 Pie or Sweet Pumpkin (to yield 2 cups or pumpkin/garlic puree)
1 Large Whole Head of Garlic
2 Cups All Purpose Flour or Gluten Free Pancake Mix
4 Tbsp Salted Butter
Handfuls of Fresh Oregano, Thyme, Tarragon, Savory
½ Lb of Sliced Pork Belly
½ Lb of Sliced Black Forest Ham
¼ Tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 Lime
1 Tomato

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 F(205 C). Cut the pumpkin in half (I use a saw type knife for this- I think it was supposed to be a drywall saw…) and remove the seeds and pulp. I save the seeds to roast later. Cut the whole head of Garlic in half. Drizzle olive oil over the inside of the Pumpkin and garlic and rub to cover the surface. Sprinkle both the Pumpkin and Garlic with Sea Salt. Place the Pumpkin cut-side down on a non stick sheet or roasting pan and wrap the Garlic cut-side up in aluminum foil on the same pan or sheet as the Pumpkin. Roast in the oven for 30-45 minutes until the Garlic is dark golden and not burned and the Pumpkin is soft.

Let all of this cool until it is comfortable enough to hold and scoop out without burning yourself like this! Seriously. Don’t be me.
Pic

Scoop the Pumpkin out of its skin and pull the Garlic out of the peel into your food processor or blender and blend until super smooth. Now here’s the cool part. You can refrigerate the puree until you are ready to use it (24-48 hrs if needed). So you don’t have to make this all at once! Because sometimes I don’t have 2-3 hours to spend in the kitchen. Surprise!

Preheat the oven again to 400 F (205 C) and place the strips of Pork Belly on a rack over a roasting pan to catch the renderings. Cook for 10-15 minutes until crisp. Crumble half of the strips and save for topping the gnocchi when plating.

Strip the leaves of the fresh herbs off the stalks and reserve for the butter sauce.

When you are ready to make the gnocchi stir in 1 cup of your flour of choice. Then stir in small amounts until it is a rollable, playdough-esque consistency. I hand roll the dough into 1” balls because I can’t get the traditional way of rolling gnocchi to work with gluten free flour. Ever.

Once you have painstakingly made all of the dumplings or gnocchi you can again chill them or put them straight into a pot of boiling, salted water. The gnocchi are done once they float to the top. Do not over cook these as they will just dissolve into the water.

Melt butter into the bottom of the pasta pot and add some of the Pork Belly renderings. Here you can saute Onions and minced Garlic into the butter if you like. Add the leaves of the Fresh Herbs and Red Pepper Flakes to the Butter. Saute, but do not let the butter brown. Add the gnocchi back into the butter and saute for a minute or two to fry and coat the dumplings. Plate the dumplings and add the black forest ham to the pan until heated through and has evenly turned golden brown.

Cut slices of Lime and Tomatoes and plate! Some of us like it with the lime squeezed on top and some like the tomatoes with it. Serves 4.

Note:

You can sub out the Pork Belly and use Bacon. This is also delicious. But I find bacon overpowering sometimes and I like the subtleness of the Pork Belly in this.

Another Note:

When cooking Butter sauces like this I really prefer to use local Amish Butter. I find it more flavorful than standard store bought sticks that came from who knows where. There. That’s my snobbery for the day.

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Yes, my kids actually eat this!

Not to boast, gloat or brag- but my kids actually eat this, and get excited every time I make this. Which makes it hard not to make it at least once a week. My son screams “DUMPLING NIGHT” and runs around like a madman. There are never any leftovers. This is a fancy enough dish for serving for dinner party and just plain delicious.