Gnocchi di ZuccaPumpkin Gnocchi

Preheat and halve and clean the pumpkin

• 1 Preheat the oven to 190°C.
• 2 Wash the 800 g pumpkin under running water, dry and cut lengthwise in half.
• 3 Scrape out all seeds and stringy fibers with a spoon.
• 4 Line a baking tray with parchment and place the halves cut-side down.

Roast at 190°C to remove moisture

• 1 Meanwhile(While roasting) cut 70 g butter into 1 cm cubes and return to the refrigerator.
• 2 Meanwhile(While roasting) wash 10 sage leaves and thoroughly pat dry with kitchen paper.
• 3 Bake on the middle rack of the preheated oven at 190°C for 55 minutes.

Sieve, dry and measure 400 g purée

• 1 Once cool enough to touch with bare hands, scoop out the flesh and discard the skin.
• 2 Pass all the flesh through a setaccio, a sieve, or a colander, pressing with a rubber spatula to remove fibers.
• 3 Put all the sieved flesh in a frying pan and stir constantly with a wooden spoon over low heat for 5–6 minutes to evaporate moisture.
• 4 Weigh the dried purée and set aside 400 g. Transfer any excess, roughly 30–80 g, to a separate container; do not use it in this recipe.
• 5 Line a tray with parchment and spread the 400 g purée thinly, 1 cm deep.

Cool below body temperature

• 1 Leave the spread purée untouched at room temperature for 25 minutes.

Judge dough consistency with minimal flour

• 1 Gather the 400 g cooled purée in the middle of the worktop, make a well and add 1 egg yolk and 30 g grated Grana Padano. Freshly grate in 0.3 g nutmeg and sprinkle with 4 g fine salt.
• 2 Sift 100 g type 00 flour over everything and combine with cutting motions using a scraper or heel of the hand for 20–30 seconds.
• 3 If it sticks strongly and will not gather, add the 20 g adjustment flour in 10 g additions, mixing for 10 seconds and checking each time.
• 4 Lightly dust a free area of the worktop with 5 g semolina and place the gathered dough there as a single mass.

Roll ropes and cut into 2 cm gnocchi

• 1 Meanwhile(Between shaping tasks) put 4000 ml water in a large pot, cover and heat over high heat.
• 2 Evenly dust a tray with 20 g semolina.
• 3 Dust the worktop with half the remaining 15 g semolina and divide the dough into 4.
• 4 Roll each 1 portion on the worktop into a rope 2 cm in diameter.
• 5 Cut the ropes with a scraper into 2 cm pieces.
• 6 Lightly coat the cut faces with semolina and arrange on the tray without touching.
• 7 Repeat with the remaining dough, adding the rest of the semolina to the worktop as you roll, cut and arrange.

Test-boil to check the dough’s strength

• 1 Add 40 g coarse salt to the boiling water and lower the heat to a gentle trembling simmer.
• 2 Drop in 1 gnocco, boil for 30 seconds after it floats and lift out.
• 3 If it falls apart, gather all the gnocchi on the tray back into dough, sprinkle with the 10 g corrective flour, mix for 20 seconds, roll again into 2 cm ropes and cut into 2 cm pieces. Test-boil another 1 piece.

Develop browned-butter aroma in the butter and sage sauce

• 1 Meanwhile(While heating the butter) coarsely crush 20 g amaretti, crisp almond-kernel-flavored biscuits, by hand.
• 2 Meanwhile(While heating the butter) warm 2 plates in hot water and dry with a cloth.
• 3 Melt 70 g cold butter in a 26 cm frying pan over medium heat.
• 4 When the bubbles become fine, spread in 10 sage leaves, reduce to low heat and cook for 1 minute 30 seconds–2 minutes.
• 5 As soon as the butter turns hazelnut-colored and smells toasted, turn off the heat and move the pan off the burner onto a work surface.

Boil the gnocchi and emulsify with the sauce

• 1 Put half the gnocchi into gently simmering water, cook for 30 seconds after they rise, then drain with a slotted ladle and transfer to the frying pan.
• 2 Cook and transfer the remaining half in the same way.
• 3 Measure 60 ml cooking water into the pan and sprinkle with 1 g fine salt.
• 4 Heat over medium heat and toss the pan back and forth for 30–40 seconds for mantecatura, the finishing emulsion of butter and cooking water.

Finish with amaretti and black pepper

• 1 Divide the gnocchi evenly between 2 warm plates and spoon over all the remaining sauce and sage.
• 2 Sprinkle 20 g grated Grana Padano evenly over them.
• 3 Scatter with 20 g crushed amaretti.
• 4 Freshly grind over 0.5 g black pepper.