Homemade Pumpkin Puree

Ever since I learned how easy it is to make your own pumpkin puree, I never buy the canned stuff! Fresh pumpkin puree, made by yourself tastes so much better in food than canned ever did! 

Ingredients:

1 pumpkin (size of your choice)
2 Tbs olive oil

Assembly:

1.) Preheat oven to 425 degrees F

2.) Thoroughly wash your pumpkin. With a sharp knife and sturdy cutting board, cut the pumpkin in half, and using a spoon, scoop all the seeds out from the inside. (If you want to make pumpkin seeds for a snack, save the seeds in a small bowl and bake them for 25 minutes with salt and pepper at 375 degrees!)

3.) Then depending on how big your pumpkin is, you'll need to cut each half in half or into fourths.

4.) Drizzle a baking sheet with olive oil and place the pumpkin pieces flesh side up.

5.) Bake the pumpkin for 45 minutes, or until fork tender. Sometimes a pumpkin will need to be baked more, especially if it is larger. If this is the case, just bake it until it is fork tender.

6.) Once pumpkin is cooked and cooled, place the pumpkin in a blender and blend until smooth.

7.) Transfer pumpkin puree into a large bowl. Use for anything from pumpkin soup, bread, smoothies, oatmeal and even pumpkin gnocchi! 

** This pumpkin puree will be a lighter shade of orange than canned pumpkin. This is because this pumpkin puree is fresh and have NO ADDED PRESERVATIVES! 

Have happy and healthy fall fun! 

<3 Babushka

Homemade Potato and Pear Gnocchi

We have a pear tree in my backyard. One morning I walked out and two pears dropped down right as I walked past the tree. It was a sign. So naturally I started thinking how can I make something delicious, but different at the same time with these pears? I've never made gnocchi before, so I decided to give it a try and honestly they turned out a lot better than I ever thought!  

Give this gnocchi with a fruity twist a try! I promise they wont disappoint! 

Ingredients:
4 medium to large potatoes (Russets or Idaho's work best)
1 1/2 cups of white unbleached flour
2 egg yolks
1 Tbs olive oil
about 1 cup of pear puree

Pear Puree:
2 large diced pears (leave one unpeeled and one peeled--the color of the peels looks great in the gnocchi and enhances the pear taste as well!)
1 Tbs of hot water
1/2 zest of a lemon

For the Sauté:
1/2 a shallot (chopped)
1/2 cup of wine
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp dried basil and parsley
1 Tbs fresh parsley

Puree: In a blender combine all the ingredients and puree until smooth!

Instructions for Gnocchi:

1.) Start with boiling the potatoes. When they are cooked and cooled, using a fork smash/mash the potatoes until they are as smooth as you can get them. Try to get all the lumps out! This is very important in having a good gnocchi dough.

2.) To the mashed potatoes, incorportate the 2 egg yolks. Then add the pear puree and stir until smooth.

 Then slowly, in thirds, add flour. The dough will be very mushy and lumpy at first; you need to kneed it until it can be formed into a large dough ball.

3.) Flour your work surface. Cut off a portion of the dough (maybe 1/6) and roll it into a log. The log should be about 1 inch wide! Using a sharp knife, cut off inch size pieces. Repeat until you end up with a lot of little gnocchi squares!

4.) Bring a large boiling pot to a boil (make sure to salt the water). Carefully drop in 10-12 gnocchi into boiling water and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the gnocchi float to the top. Keep a close eye on these! They cook quicker than you think! 

5.) Once the gnocchi float to the top, ladle them out into a large boil, and drizzle a little bit of olive oil over them so they don't stick to each other. Continue this process until all of your gnocchi are cooked!

6.) In a large sauté pan, heat a Tbs of olive oil, stir in 1/2 a shallot (chopped) and cook until light brown. Add in about 10-12 gnocchi and allow them to get lightly brown on both sides (will take about 3-4 minutes per side). Once slightly brown, add red wine, apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper and herbs. Sauté for another 3 minutes or until wine is nicely reduced.

Serve immediately! They're the best when eaten straight out of the pan they were sautéed in! 

** You can also freeze the gnocchi after they are boiled and sauté them later on!

 My Dad and I ate 3 full plates of these! Can you say yummy! :) 

This one looked like a fish!

Happy Eating!

<3 Babushka