Pumpkin Gnocchi with Bacon and Cheese Sauce

Recipe type: Main

Cuisine: European

Ingredients

Instructions

Bake pumpkin in oven until tender. Put through a potato ricer or sieve while still warm. Fry pumpkin in 2 tbsp butter in a pan on low heat until pumpkin has dried out a bit and thickened. Remove from heat and gently fold through flour, egg, ½ cup of parmesan cheese and some black pepper. The mixture should be soft. Gently roll into long tubes bout 2 cm wide. Cut at about 2 cm intervals. Roll into balls and indent with a fork or with a gnocchi roller (cost about $4 at specialty kitchen shops). Place into fridge.
Saute the chopped bacon until cooked and put aside until needed.
Saute onion in a little butter with a little olive oil for 5-7 mins on low heat. Add white wine and peppercorns, increase heat and simmer until quantity reduces by half. Strain liquid and return to pan. Add cream, half of the sage leaves. ¾ of the cooked bacon and cheeses. Warm until cheese melts. If necessary, thicken with a whisked egg yolk or a tsp of cornflour mixed with a little water.
Place gnocchi into a pot of boiling water. The gnocchi is cooked when it rises to the surface. It should only take a few minutes.
Heat the remaining butter in a small pan until simmering. Add remaining sage leaves until they go crisp. Remove from pan immediately. Place gnocchi on plate. Cover with cream and bacon mixture. Top with remaining bacon and burnt sage leaves and parmesan cheese. Drizzle with a little of the sage butter and add some freshly cracked black pepper.