Thursday, March 8, 2012

Vegan Pumpkin Gnocchi with Artichoke Puree

In search of something delicious, I came across a recipe from the Millennium Restaurant in San Francisco, CA. It originally calls for Jerusalem Artichokes, but I couldn't find them anywhere, so I used a common 'globe' artichoke instead. This recipe takes a lot of time, but I would have made my grandma proud!


Ingredients for the Gnocchi

5 medium(ish) potatoes, baked
2 cups cooked pumpkin (organic - canned)
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (lost track of amount I had to use)
salt


Ingredients for Artichoke Puree

1 leek, cleaned and diced
1 artichoke, cooked and meat removed
vegetable stock to cover
2 tsp nutritional yeast
salt and pepper to taste
extra virgin olive oil
grated nutmeg


Cooking instructions for Gnocchi

Remove skin from potatoes. Its ideal to pass the potatoes and pumpkin through a potato ricer, but I have no idea what that is, nor do we own one, so I used my food processor (after mashing by hand).

Mix in flour until a soft dough is formed. This is really messy and takes a bit of time. Flour is your friend with this step.

Make 1-inch-thick ropes. Cut each rope into 1/2-inch pieces, pinching the sides and place them on a floured pan.

Put in freezer for 1 hour




Cooking instructions for Artichoke Puree

Sweat the leek in a saucepan over medium heat until soft.

Add the artichoke and cover with stock.

Add yeast and simmer covered until the vegetables are soft.

Puree the sauce until smooth (I used the food processor again). Add salt and pepper.




Almost done! ...

Bring 3 quarts of water to a boil.

Cook gnocchi 5-6 minutes until they float to and remain at the surface for 2 minutes.

Remove gnocchi (drain) and place on plate, drizzle with olive oil.

Once all the gnocchi has been removed and drizzled with oil, toss in puree.

Grate nutmeg over top.