Butternut Squash Gnocchi

In autumn, I crave comforting foods.  I’ve seen a lot of recipes for gnocchi (the little Italian potato dumplings) with butter sauce.  I started looking for gnocchi at the store, and found that there are vegan brands available.  You could also make your own gnocchi.

However, as much as I was looking for comfort, I felt I had to sneak some nutrition in.  And so, I came up with Butternut Squash Gnocchi.  It still has a buttery sauce, but has cannellini beans and squash, so you can still get some protein and vitamins.  To top it off, it’s incredibly easy, but feels like something from a restaurant.

This is a great recipe for November, as locally grown butternut squash and sage should be available in many places (our squash was from a farm stand, and the sage was from our yard – sage is a hardy herb that you may wish to look into growing!).

Butternut Squash Gnocchi:

– 1 16 oz package of gnocchi

– 3 cups of peeled and diced (into about 1 inch pieces) butternut squash

– 6 Tablespoons of vegan “butter” (such as Earth Balance)

– 1 15 oz can of cannellini beans (white beans), rinsed and drained

– 1/4 cup of finely chopped fresh sage

– Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

– Nutritional yeast, to taste

1.  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  When it is boiling, add the butternut squash.  Cook for seven minutes.  Add the gnocchi for the last 2 – 3 minutes (or according to package directions).  Drain in a colander.

2.  While the squash and gnocchi are cooking, melt the “butter” over medium heat in a wok or saucepan.  When the butter has melted, turn the heat down to low.  Add the cooked squash, gnocchi, drained cannellini beans, and sage.  Heat through for a few minutes.

3.  Serve topped with ground pepper and nutritional yeast, if desired.

Serves 3.  This is great served with a salad of greens, dried cranberries, walnuts or pecans, and balsamic vinaigrette.  If you’d like to make even more use of fall produce, soak some granny smith apple slices in lemon juice and add these to the salad.

 

Tags: 5 ingredients, butternut squash, quick and easy, Vegan