Gluten Free Recipe #2 - Potato Gnocchi with Pumpkin & Orange Sauce

So a little while ago my daughter decided to make some Potato Gnocchi and after being inspired by a Jamie Oliver recipe, made this Pumpkin sauce to go with it. Very yum!! All gluten free.

My daughter has coeliac disease so all her recipes are GF if you were wondering why. She is a creative cook, unlike myself who must follow a recipe for 99% of my cooking!! With the GF flour, we buy different brands of the plain or self raising flour and then place all of the plain in one container and then do the same with the self raising flour.

750 gram of potatoes, unpeeled
1 1/3 cups of plain gluten free flour, plus a little extra
Salt and pepper to flavour

We cook the potatoes in the microwave instead of steaming them. Place one or two fork holes in the potatoes so that they cook properly. (we cook only 2-3 potatoes at a time). Place them in the microwave and cook with the skin on, for 2- 4 minutes (depending on your microwave and the size of the potato). Remove, test that they are soft and cooked through, and set aside. Cook all of the potatoes in this way. (if the potatoes are boiled in water, they take on too much water, which means that the gnocchi need more flour and then become too heavy)
















Once the potatoes have cooled enough to touch, remove the skin from the potatoes. We just use a normal potato peeler for this, or you can use your fingers or a knife. Place them all into a bowl and mash until all the lumps are gone.

Add the flour to the potatoes and mix until a soft dough forms. If the mixture is still sticky add a little more flour.

Turn the dough on to a lightly floured surface. (make sure you have some flour on your hands as well) and form into a ball.

Cut the dough into 4 equal sized pieces. Using your hands, roll each piece out gently, to form a log about 2 cm wide. Using a lightly floured knife, cut each log into 1.5cm long pieces.

You can use a fork or buy a gnocchi board, either works. We have tried both, but after buying her a gnocchi board, that is what she uses. (they cost about $10 dollars).

Roll each ball of gnocchi over the tines of a fork or gnocchi board, pressing gently with your index finger or thumb underneath as you go, to form a dent in the back of each gnocchi, leaving fork marks/lines on the other side (this creates a textured surface, and helps the sauce to cling to the cooked gnocchi.)

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add 1/4 of the gnocchi. As they cook, gnocchi will rise to the surface of the water. Continue cooking gnocchi at the surface for about 10 seconds then remove with a large slotted spoon and drain well. Repeat with the remaining gnocchi. You don't want to over cook as they will start to fall apart and become water logged - I know this has happened to us!!

Ps, - before placing the gnocchi in the water, make sure you have the pumpkin sauce cooked, mashed and waiting.

The Pumpkin and Orange sauce is what my daughter made after reading a Jamie Oliver recipe - though she has tweaked it slightly and made it hers!!

800gm of Pumpkin diced & skin removed - we like Kent pumpkin also known as Japanese pumpkin
3 large carrots, diced (we leave the skin on, or you can remove)
200 gm of sweet potato, diced & skin removed
4 cloves of garlic, diced
1 fresh red chilli, diced
4 sprigs of fresh rosemary, washed & diced
olive oil
1 vegetable stock cube
500ml of boiling water
Parmesan cheese
1 Orange, for zesting

 Once you have cut up and diced everything, place the pumpkin, carrot, sweet potato, rosemary, garlic and chilli into a fry pan with the oil. Saute for a few minutes.

Then add the boiling water and the stock cube. Bring to the boil and then simmer with the lid on for 25- 30 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked and break up nicely. We used a potato masher to break up, but tried to leave it so that it wasn't quite a mash as such - lumps are good this time!!!

Add the gnocchi to the sauce and very gently blend together. Serve up and grate Parmesan cheese and orange zest over the top. Hope you enjoy as much as we did!!!