Can dry roasted squash be used effectively for gnocchi?

Question

I roasted an entire pumpkin (specifically, a triamble variety). It was cut into large pieces and roasted with oil in an oven. I ended up leaving it to cool in the oven which I guess was a mistake because the pumpkin dried out considerably. I'd say it resembles in texture roasted chestnut: dense, a little chewy, and definitely flour-y.

That said, it has great flavor and a vibrant color. It's just that it can't be used in many recipes that expect a squash with more moisture.

I was thinking of perhaps using it to make gnocchi but most recipes I've found for squash gnocchi assume that it will be providing most of the moisture for the dough.

I've already used it successfully in chunks over a salad but would like to incorporate it into gnocchi.

Answer 1

Some ideas:

• I like to do do pumpkin gnocchi. The dryer the pumpkin, the better, since you will need to add less flour and get a lighter result. It has a lovely sweet taste compared to potato gnocchi and goes really well with sage and butter or blue cheese sauce. The recipe in the link is just suggestive. My approach is to add an egg yolk and to keep adding flour just to the point where the mix gets together. The reason is because the less flour, the better the final result (however flour is important, otherwise you get a sticky mess that you won't manage to roll and cut).

• Also on the pasta side, you can make ravioli filled with pumpkin and again serve with sage and butter sauce.

• Pumpkin bread. You could incorporate your pumpkin puree in a bread dough and proceed as usual for bread (you can do sourdough, tin bread, etc). The sweetness of the pumpkin works great when serving the bread with cheese, and the pumpkin gives a nice orange colour.

• If you have not salted it, pumpkin sponge cake or pudding.

• Pumpkin soufflé, goes well sweet or savoury.

Answer 2

Curry pumpkin (or squash) soup would work well. Just in time for colder weather!