Herb Gnocchi, Butternut, Mushrooms
I already had the Bouchon book out from the last recipe, so I thought I’d thumb through it for a way to use up the butternut squash I impulse purchased weeks ago. It was starting to fade into the landscape of the kitchen counter.
Before I even flipped to the index, this page fell open, so I knew it was meant to be. I already had most of the ingredients, but I did have to buy those expensive supermarket packets of herbs.
This project can be knocked out in 90 minutes. There are three components: the gnocchi, the butternut squash, and the mushroom.
I made the gnocchi dough, got a pot of water on, prepped the squash and mushrooms while resting the dough and waiting for water to boil. The squash and mushrooms require minimal attention. And after they were done sauteeing, I had plenty of time to clean between batches of gnocchi. Easy 90 minutes even in a small space.
Herbed Parisian Gnocchi
Parisian gnocchi is considerably less annoying to make than potato gnocchi - it’s just pate a choux!
Prepare ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment:
2 Tbsp dijon mustard
2 Tbsp parsley
2 Tbsp chive
2 Tbsp tarragon
1 Tbsp salt
(the original recipe called for 1 Tbsp each of chervil, parsley, chive, and tarragon - but it’s hard to source chervil and I couldn’t find it that day)
Prepare:
1 cup grated comte or emmentaler cheese (I had to sub pecorino bc I forgot to buy cheese)
In a pot, bring to a simmer:
1.5 cups water
6 oz butter
1 tsp salt
Add off-heat and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until combined:
2 cups AP flour
Return the pot to medium heat and stir constantly, scraping the bottom of the pot.
Cook for 5-ish minutes, stirring and scraping constantly, until the dough is making a quiet sizzle and easily forms a film on the bottom of the pot.
The goal is to drive out liquid and cook the flour, so the dough can take the liquid from the eggs.
The “thin film” has always been in choux dough instructions, but it’s kind of misleading based on a lot of factors. I’d say listen for the sizzle, try to note a change in smell in the dough from raw water+butter+flour to a subtle toastiness.
Transfer to the prepared stand mixer bowl w/ herbs (from step 1) and beat on low-ish speed for 2 minutes until ingredients combine.
Add the cheese (from step 2).
Keep paddling until dough cools slightly, and add:
5 to 6 eggs, one at a time.
Scrape well every other egg or so.
Don’t add eggs too soon, or the heat will overcook them. I usually wait until the bowl is not scalding to touch (about 2 min of paddling.)
After adding the 5th egg, gauge the consistency. It should be shiny and smooth, and fall off the paddle slowly and leave a slight “v” shape. If it’s too thick, beat the 6th egg and add little bits gradually until desired texture.
Because I used a drier cheese, I ended up having to add 6.5 eggs, which is fine. Use your best judgement, but also don’t add too much at once because a tiny bit of egg makes all the difference in a small batch like this.
Put in a pastry bag with 5/8-inch tip (Ateco #808) and rest for 30 minutes.
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, prepare ingredients for the mushrooms and squash.
The veg are pretty standard and easy. Not too fussy. The recipe can be summed in one sentence each but I’ll write them out more.
Butternut Squash:
If you’re TK, pick a squash with a long neck so you can use the neck and get perfectly uniform pieces. Save the bulb for a different use.
Cut the neck from the bulb, and peel the neck by standing it up and going around the outside with a knife
Dice 3c worth of squash into 1/2-inch pieces. Save the rest for another use (I’m gonna put mine in thai curry!)
Saute in a wide-surfaced pan:
melt a knob of butter - allow it to brown slightly
add a handful of sage leaves
Add diced squash, season w/ salt & pepper, allow it to brown undisturbed on medium-high heat for a few minutes
Turn the heat to medium-low, and cook until squash is all the way cooked through, tossing occasionally. It takes maybe 10 minutes.
Mushrooms:
Wash the mushrooms - I just bought the cheap brown button mushrooms, but I’d totally use better mushrooms if I had access right now.
Cut button mushrooms into halves if they’re small, maybe 3 slices or quarters if they’re bigger. They cook down a ton though. I’d leave oyster mushrooms whole, other types of mushrooms idk.
Saute:
Melt butter + oil on high heat.
Add the mushrooms, and allow them to cook and brown. Some water may leech out, but keep at it on high heat and it will brown eventually after all the water evaporates.
Add minced shallot, salt & pepper, and thyme.
Toss and cook for 1-2 more minutes.
Poaching the gnocchi:
Bring the pot of water to a simmer, and add a splash of cold water so it’s not boiling. The whole time, you want water to be hot, but not at a boil.
Also have a parchment-lined quarter sheet tray ready
This might take a little bit of practice. You’re going to cut little 1-inch chunks of dough with a butter knife directly into the water as you squeeze the pastry bag.
If you only have those tiny grocery store pastry bags, it might be easy to squeeze from the end of the bag, but if it’s too much pressure, tie the bag with a string made of plastic wrap and squeeze from farther down the bag.
Maintain constant pressure and cut with a constant rhythm, so the sizes can be uniform.
If you’re slower, maybe only do like 20 per batch. Once you get faster, you can probably fit 40 within a short time.
The gnocchi will sink at first. Once they float, poach the batch for 1-2 minutes - they might not be all the way cooked through, but they will be seared again so it’s ok.
Keep the water hot. If the water boil again at any point, just add a splash of cold water.
Transfer to the sheet tray with a slotted spoon, and spread them out to cool in 1 layer. Repeat in batches.
Gnocchi can be refrigerated for 30min & up to 1 day before use.
To finish the dish:
Heat butter in a pan on medium-high heat.
Brown the gnocchi on both sides; give them a nice crust but handle them gently.
Add the squash and mushrooms, and toss until everything is heated through.
Season everything again w/ salt and pepper.
Transfer to a plate.
Garnish: browned butter w/ sage and parsley leaves fried in it, a squeeze of lemon.
Notes:
Have everything for the choux dough prepared before you start mixing, because once you add flour to boiling liquid, it’s gogogogogogo.
When in doubt, err on the side of cooking the choux an extra min or two. In my experience, it’s less of a mistake to add a little more egg later than to not dry it out enough.
This recipe makes like 200+ little pieces of gnocchi. Once parcooked, they can be frozen a sheet tray in one layer and transferred to a Ziplock bag to keep for another use. I seared mine from frozen, and they’re so small the cook up just fine!