It’s been a cold and busy week in Maine. Filled with good food and new treasures. We also saw the first snowfall of the season, which was a light and delicate dusting during. I thought a lot about which recipe to make. A great problem – which of my many ideas do I focus on first? Which am I most excited about? It came down to the last minute, but I decided to make pumpkin shaped gnocchi. A second chance at my gnocchi and Swiss chard recipe from weeks ago. With two-toned pumpkin and potato gnocchi. 

Pumpkin Shaped Gnocchi

Monday started the week with a little gloom. I felt like I was starting to come down with a seasonal cold. So I hunkered down most of the day, working on packaging a card order for a local store. I thought a lot about ideas for the future. And I played pool with my dad. I lost, quite dramatically, in the first few games. But once I snapped out of my funk I went on a 3-game win streak. I drifted off to sleep that night, anxious about business projects. Anticipating the biting cold of the impending winter. Thinking of Christmas gifts to buy. 

Then came Tuesday. Veteran’s day. My mom had the day off, so we spent the day together. I woke up with an alarm, for once, to get going early, and we went on a nice cold walk. In my winter boots and 3 layers with a beanie. It feels like just yesterday I was wearing shorts and t-shirts, feeling the seemingly endless warmth of summer. After the walk we drove through the island town near us, Southport, which I used to work on each summer in high school. A magical, quiet place. We drove by a good restaurant that we frequent a few times each summer and decided to go in for lunch. 

Good Food + Exploring

We split a platter of chicken tenders and fries. An indulgent and deeply comforting meal that really hit the spot. We watched the waves lap through the window and enjoyed the sleepy afternoon quiet. The topic of discussion was Morse’s Sauerkraut, a gourmet food store about 40 minutes from home. I was surprised at first that my mom had any interest in sauerkraut, but she told me the place is filled with holiday gifts, foreign foods, and gourmet treats. We took a long, grey drive through the Maine woods and ended up at a humble barn-like building in the middle of nowhere. 

Immediately I spotted a table of Christmas treats. In gold boxes and plastic bags with glistening chocolate candies, gingerbreads, and shortbread cookies. British specialties you couldn’t find anywhere else in Maine. Extravagant advent calendars and big boxes of panettone and German stollen. It was an endless afternoon of exploring never before seen treats. We narrowed down our choices of the most enticing gingerbread treats and my mom picked out holiday gifts for her friends and coworkers. I spotted mince pies, gourmet chocolate bars, and Scottish shortbread. 

The First Snow of the Year

I had just told my mom how I regretted not carving a pumpkin for Halloween. Time flew by. But I felt like it was my chance to get some holiday candy, at least, and I admired their fall decor outside. We found two back rooms of extra food items after our initial peruse. One room was filled with gourmet pastas, specialty rice, Asian sauces and cooking wines. Things in foreign languages with no translations and a fridge of homemade pierogis and sausages. There were spices I’ve never heard of, jugs of $100 olive oil, and vintage wines. We settled on a bag of pici, one of my favorite Italian pastas. 

When we left, the man checking us out said “enjoy the snow!” It shocked us. We hopped into the car and navigated home in a light snowstorm, which barely freckled the road. I thought of recipe ideas, filled with inspiration from my new favorite food store. I could make pici with a carbonara sauce. Or with my favorite swiss chard and scallion sauce I tried to make for my recent blue potato gnocchi experiment. I could also make a gingerbread dessert, like a loaf cake with a royal icing glaze. Or gingerbread cookies, shortbread, or something chocolate. 

Recipe Research + Homemade Pasta

I spent the next couple days running around like a headless chicken with work projects. New orders, printer troubles, and careless mistakes from rough nights of sleep. I ended up driving to a store to deliver cards twice because I forgot a batch. Then I donated old books, returned an online order, and checked out a beautiful new bookstore. I slept well from sheer exhaustion after finishing my projects. My blog was pushed to Friday, which was wide open. And sunny. 

I woke up early again but I felt excited to start the day. As I always feel on recipe day. And I still couldn’t decide what to make. On our way home on Tuesday we stopped at a few other stores. I bought swiss chard and scallions, just in case. So I was determined to utilize them. I narrowed down my focus to homemade pasta with Swiss chard, or pumpkin shaped gnocchi. An ode to the disappearing fall, and to my regret over not buying a decorative pumpkin. It was a coin flip decision, but when I realized I could make two different colors of pumpkins, and I felt a hankering for my lemony, buttery, swiss chard sauce, I made my choice. 

Pumpkin and Potato Gnocchi

I started with researching pumpkin gnocchi and studying my own potato gnocchi recipe. Ironically I had a few potatoes in the fridge, half cooked, from a previous night’s leftovers. I had my swiss chard and scallions, and I realized I had saved an extra can of pumpkin puree from an October grocery run just in case. Pleased with myself, I decided to make both orange and white gnocchi. White ones remind me of Beth’s, a gorgeous and expansive farm and market here that I’m extremely fond of. The last time I visited was the start of autumn, and I giggled to myself at the names. Boo-bies for small ghost-like white pumpkins. Both large and small. 

I started the pumpkin shaped gnocchi by microwaving my half-cooked potatoes. This is a rare moment where I admit to using my microwave, so take it all in. I simply needed to get them soft enough to rice. No shame in that. So I did, and I dug my potato ricer out of a cabinet. I’m looking forward to using it again for Thanksgiving. I riced my potatoes and carefully measured flour, then sprinkled the potatoes with parmesan and salt. My dough came together with an egg yolk, too, into a thick ball of off-white. I wrapped it while I worked on my pumpkin gnocchi.

Sculpting Pumpkin Shaped Gnocchi

It started with a beautiful orange pumpkin puree that I further cooked in the oven to evaporate as much water as possible. You can use fresh pumpkin, not canned, but I like the deeper color this provided. Just make sure you roast the canned puree if you use it. My second dough came together with another batch of flour, salt, parmesan, and pumpkin, and I delighted in its orange hue. All that was left to do was focus and roll my doughs out. Logs cut into pieces, then rolled into balls and dimpled with a toothpick. Pumpkin shaped gnocchi, both white and orange. 

I started with an irregular arrangement of gnocchi balls that I had to reconfigure into even, large-enough portions. And then it all went well. One at a time I rolled my gnocchi into orange and white balls, scoring them 4 or 5 or 6 times with a toothpick. Pressing firmly into the sides, tops, and bottoms, sculpting them to look like pumpkins. One at a time I placed them on a floured baking sheet and watched them form into a miniature pumpkin patch before my eyes. After about 20 or 30 minutes I had a whole tray of pumpkin shaped gnocchi ready to cook. So I cleaned my floury counter, washed my hands, and heated a sauté pan on the stove. 

Brown Butter + Greens

All that was left to do was make a brown butter sauce to cook my gnocchi in. Like dumplings. I decided to steam them with water after searing to make sure they were fully cooked. I also had to chop up my Swiss chard and scallions to cook into my sauce. And I grabbed lemon, parmesan, and salt to have at the ready. I started with a few tablespoons of butter, browned, that I nearly burned, and I lowered all of my pumpkin shaped gnocchi into the pan with my favorite chopsticks. The heat was too high, so I turned it down and listened as the bottoms crisped and crackled in the brown butter. 

I poured in a little bit of water and shoved the lid on top to trap in the steam. And after 5 or 6 minutes I revealed them. Glorious orange and white pumpkins with crisp, golden bottoms. Glistening on top from the condensation. I chopsticked them out of the pan and back onto a baking sheet when they were done. I tried one a little too quickly and burned my mouth, but it was delicious. A white one. Nice and potato-forward. Next I melted more butter in my pan and watched it bubble away as I gathered my swiss chard and scallions. 

Scallions and Swiss Chard

For a quick recap – I accidentally discovered that scallions and swiss chard cooked in lots of butter with sea salt and lemon juice is one of my favorite things. I attempted to make blue potato gnocchi weeks ago, during the last days of the farmers market. Unfortunately they turned out grayish purple. The silver lining was that I made the scallion and swiss chard topping and couldn’t stop eating it. It may take butter, salt, and lemon for me to eat my greens, but boy did I love them! I knew I wanted to make them again for this pumpkin shaped gnocchi. And I would plate them on top, peeking out of the green mess like pumpkins in a late fall patch. 

I started with my scallions, watching them soften and brown in the butter. Then I added a couple huge handfuls of chiffonaded swiss chard leaves, which wilted and cooked down quickly. With a flourish of salt, lemon, and parmesan, I finished my glorious sauce with a quick taste. And I added a little more lemon and salt for maximum flavor. I felt like I missed something, because it was so easy. Besides sculpting pumpkin shaped gnocchi dumplings by hand, of course. I spooned my Swiss chard on my favorite black place and placed my pumpkins on top. 

Parmesan (Snow) Garnish

But I wasn’t done yet. I realized I had forgotten to make pumpkin stems! So I took some leftover scallions and cut them a few times to make thin chive-sized leaves. And I pressed them into the tops of my pumpkins with a toothpick, like a proper artist. Suddenly I had gorgeous, glistening pumpkins, white and orange, with green stems, sitting in a patch of green. Just like I wanted. So I sped through my photoshoot (which was easy due to the sheer beauty of these things) and felt so excited to eat. 

I added a quick sprinkle of finely grated parmesan over the top first. But I realized immediately that it looked just like a sprinkle of snow. Perfect to resemble my snow-kissed week of late fall food adventures and longing for October pumpkins. So I took one more photo and got to eating. The gnocchi have more of a bite than a soft, pillowy texture, like a dumpling. Because of being seared in the brown butter and steamed. But I loved them. A slight pumpkin earthiness flavored the orange gnocchi. The white ones have a great potato flavor and a hint of parmesan. 

Looking Forward to Thanksgiving

They all served as the perfect base for the star of the show. My favorite chard and brown butter sauce. Each bite was a tangled pile of seaweed-looking greens. Deeply flavored with butter, salt, and acid. It’s incredibly delicious. And really pairs well with the thick, doughy dumplings. I could eat this meal every day. It’s a simple one, and a quick one to make if you don’t want to sculpt pumpkin shaped gnocchi. You can just make regular bug-like blobs and it’ll taste just as great. The key is the swiss chard sauce. And lots of butter. 

I’ve been snacking on gingerbread, working on new projects, and spending some time helping my dad with his carpentry side-jobs. I’ve also enjoyed catching up on TV. Survivor. Netflix. And I split a hole down the middle of my pajamas. Christmas is coming soon, thankfully! I’ll be planning my next recipe soon, which will probably involve gingerbread. Or some kind of cookie. And I’ll be planning our Thanksgiving meal – white potatoes, sweet potato casserole, sage sausage stuffing, and chicken, not turkey. My mom’s request. I might even make an apple pie for dessert.

Thank you for reading! If you enjoy my recipes and paintings, be sure to check out my Etsy for 100’s of art prints and recipe cards. Use code THEFORKEDRING for 25% off. 

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Pumpkin Shaped Gnocchi

Pumpkin and potato gnocchi shaped like pumpkins, with brown butter and lemony greens

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Keyword gnocchi, pumpkin, pumpkin gnocchi, swiss chard

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author theforkedring

Ingredients

• 1.5 lbs russet potatoes (1 lb cooked)
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 1/2 cups 00 Flour
• 2 tbsp sea salt
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan + more for garnish
• 1 whole egg
• 8 tbsp unsalted butter
• 3 cups Swiss chard leaves shredded
• 1 1/2 cups scallions chopped
• Juice of 1-2 lemons

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375°F. Microwave or bake potatoes until fork-tender. Let cool slightly and remove skins.
• Rice potatoes into a medium mixing bowl. Add a generous sprinkle of sea salt (1 tbsp), 2 tbsp grated parmesan, and 1 whole egg.
• Mix until the potatoes look like diced hard boiled eggs. Then, sprinkle over 1/2 cup 00 flour and work into a dough, just until combined. Cover and set aside.
• Spread pumpkin puree onto a large parchment or silicon-lined baking sheet in a thin layer. Bake for 10-15 minutes until deepened in color.
• Transfer cooked pumpkin puree to another medium bowl. Season with a generous sprinkle of sea salt (1 tbsp) and top with 2 tbsp grated parmesan.
• Add 1 cup AP flour (more if needed) until you have a soft but cohesive dough that doesn’t stick to the bowl. Cover and set aside.
• Sprinkle your work surface with a dusting of flour. Cut one dough in half and roll into a thick log, about 16” long. Cut into 16 equal pieces by cutting in half 4 times.
• Repeat with your other dough until you have an equal number of gnocchi pieces. Roll every piece into a ball, one at a time, and press 5-6 lines into each ball with a toothpick.
• Place pumpkin shaped gnocchi on a parchment-lined baking sheet, dusted lightly with flour.
• Heat 2 tbsp butter in a large sauté pan over medium heat until melted and beginning to brown. Place each pumpkin into your sauté pan and cook for 3-4 minutes until golden brown on the bottom.
• Carefully pour 2 tbsp water into your hot pan and cover with a lid. Steam for 4-5 minutes until the gnocchi is firm and cooked.
• Remove pumpkins from pan and place on a clean, aluminum foil-lined baking sheet.
• Heat 6 tbsp unsalted butter in the same sauté pan over medium heat until melted and browned. Add chopped scallions and cook for 1-2 minutes until soft.
• Add chopped Swiss chard and cook for another 1-2 minutes until softened. Add lemon juice to taste and season with sea salt.
• Plate your Swiss chard mixture first, then place pumpkins on top in alternating colors. Top with a light sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

Notes

• You can use fresh pumpkin (cooked and shredded) in place of pumpkin puree. Use the same ratio as the potato gnocchi recipe since the pumpkin puree has a higher water content and requires more flour.
• Gradually add flour to your pumpkin puree mix, not all at once, to see how much it needs. It should be soft but cohesive, but it shouldn’t stick to your counter.