Homemade Gnocchi and Butternut Squash Pesto

For those of you who have seen some of my previous posts, you'll know that I have kinda been obssessed with pesto and butternut squash this year, so I thought I would combine the two to make a butternut squash pesto! You will still get the traditional, flavoursome basil pesto, but adding the butternut squash gives that extra hint of sweetness and creamy feel that compliments it beautifully. Now for the gnocchi that's another story 😂, I hadn't made it before and I wouldn't call it a complete disaster because it was edible enough to eat and did taste fine. However, I messed up one of the steps in the instructions, which made the mixture go runny, but as they say "if at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again". I used a gnocchi recipe from the 'Simply Italian - Cooking at Home with the Chiappa Sisters'. You don't have to use this specific one, you can use any gnocchi recipe from cookbooks you may have lying around at home or on the internet, or you can just buy ready made gnocchi from the supermarket. I know gnocchi is an aquired texture more than taste, so you can always use ordinary pasta instead.
If you wanted something a bit extra on the side, I added some roasted butternut squash, spinach and greenbeans.
The recipe is down below and I hope you'll enjoy this 'edible goodness'!

Enough to serve 3-4 people

Ingredients (Butternut Squash Pesto):

• 3/4 From One Whole Butternut Squash (roasted)
• A Handful of Fresh Basil
• 6 Sage Leaves
• 30g Walnuts
• 40g Parmesan Cheese
• 150ml Olive Oil
• Pinch of Salt
• Sprinkle of Ground Black Pepper

Side note: You will need a food processor to make the pesto. I'm not sure if other blenders would be strong enough. Feel free to try if you want to, but maybe pulse to test if it can handle it.

Ingredients (Gnocchi):

• Simply Italian-Cooking at Home with the Chiappa Sisters: https://thechiappas.com/recipes/classic-potato-gnocchi-recipe/ (I personally made a plain version and didn't add the flavours that they did, but you can if you want to).
• BBC Good Food is always an online go to for me when it comes to finding recipes, here's one I found for homemade gnocchi: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1624/villa-valentinas-potato-gnocchi
• I usually use this one, if it is shop bought: https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/shop/gb/groceries/de-cecco-gnocchi-di-patate-500g

Instructions (Gnocchi):

• Prepare the gnocchi from whatever source you are using. You can make it earlier on in the day and then cook it later or you can freeze the gnocchi and have it whenever.

Instructions (Butternut Squash Pesto):

Step 1: Set your oven to 200℃ fan. Now get your butternut squash and start to peel and then chop into small cubes. Make sure to take out the seeds. Then get an oven tray, drizzle with olive oil and then add a sprinkle of salt and black pepper. After that put your butternut squash cubes on the tray and put in the oven for 20 minutes.

Step 2: Put 3/4 of your roasted butternut squash into your food processor. The 1/4 of butternut squash can be used at the end to put on top of your gnocchi and pesto. Now add the basil, sage leaves, walnuts, parmesan cheese, olive oil, salt and black pepper to the processor. Now pulse and then blitz it all up until it is fairly smooth, but still has a bit of texture. It should look like the picture below:

Step 3: Once your gnocchi and sides are done, put the pesto mixture into a heatproof bowl and put in the microwave for 1 minute or until warm.

Step 4: Now distribute the gnocchi and sides on to dishes or plates and then add some dolops of pesto, and then your 1/4 butternut squash on top.

There you go you're all done, I really hope you enjoy and if you have some pesto left over put it in the fridge and it should last for a few days. You can put it on toast or even rice cakes. I've tried both and tastes yummy with a sliced hard boiled egg on top.