Butternut Squash Gnocchi

With Goat’s Cheese Mousse & Pine Nut Dressing; A delicious and unusual dish which never fails to delight..

For the gnocchi:
1 large butternut squash
Glug of olive oil
Salt and pepper
4 cups of plain flour (gluten free works just as well!)

For the mousse:
500g of goat’s cheese
100ml of cream
25ml olive oil

For the dressing:
100g pine nuts
100ml of olive oil
Small bunch of basil
Mixed salad to serve.

Slice the butternut squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds, season well and place in a deep roasting tin. Drizzle generously with olive oil and bake for 45 minutes or until soft.

Once it’s soft and the skin peels easily, take it out of the oven and remove the flesh into a mixing bowl. Using a potato masher or blender, blitz or mash until smooth. Add another good pinch of salt and pepper. Gradually add in the flour, mixing well, until a thick dough forms. This will depend on how juicy and fresh your squash is as to how much flour you will need. So don’t worry if there’s flour left.

Make the dough into long sausage shapes and then cut into postage stamp sized pieces of dough. Lay out on greaseproof paper.

For the mousse: remove any rind from the goat’s cheese and blitz until smooth, slowly add the cream and oil, season with salt and pepper.

To make the dressing: in a frying pan brown the pine nuts. Put the nuts and basil into a blender and start blending before gradually adding the oil, until it forms a light dressing.

To cook the gnocchi: drop into boiling water for about 2 minutes, until firm. Once firm, place the drained gnocchi into a hot pan with a dash of olive oil until the gnocchi turns a golden colour.

Serve the gnocchi with a handful of the salad, a quenelle of the cheese mousse and drizzle over the pine nut dressing.

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