Chandler's Butternut Squash & Blue Cheese Gnocchi

SOUTH DEERFIELD, Mass. (Mass Appeal) - Official Mass Appeal Chef Greg Monette from Chandler's Restaurant in South Deerfield showed us how to make a delicious dish off their menu!

Butternut Squash & Blue Cheese Gnocchi

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds russet potatoes
• 1 pound butternut squash
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 egg, extra large
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
• Fresh parsley and sage

Directions:

1. Bake the whole potatoes until they are soft (about 45 minutes). While still warm, break in half and squeeze out the potato, discarding the skins. 
2. Pass through vegetable mill onto clean pasta board. Toss peeled and 1 inch cubed butternut squash in olive oil, salt and pepper and roast in 350 degree oven until tender.
3. Pass through food mill or mash and fold into potatoes.
4. Set 6 quarts of water to boil in a large spaghetti pot. Set up ice bath with 6 cups ice and 6 cups water near boiling water.
5. Make well in center of potatoes and squash and sprinkle all over with flour, using all the flour. Place egg, blue cheese and salt in center of well and using a fork, stir into flour and potatoes, just like making normal pasta.
6. Once egg is mixed in, bring dough together, kneading gently until a ball is formed. Knead gently another 4 minutes until ball is dry to touch.
7. Roll baseball-sized ball of dough into 3/4-inch diameter dowels and cut dowels into 1-inch long pieces. Flick pieces off of fork or concave side of cheese grater until dowel is finished.
8. Drop these pieces into boiling water and cook until they float (about 1 minute).
9. Meanwhile, continue with remaining dough, forming dowels, cutting into 1-inch pieces and flicking off of fork. As gnocchi float to top of boiling water, remove them to ice bath. Continue until all have been cooled off.
10. Let sit several minutes in bath and drain from ice and water. Toss with 1/2 cup canola oil and store covered in refrigerator up to 48 hours until ready to serve.
11. Gnocchi take well to most any sauce used for pastas or may be fried in butter and herbs with a pinch of garlic and finished with shaved parmesan. I like to add duck confit tossed in after frying.

About Chandler's Restaurant:

From traditional New England lunch fare to romantic candlelight dinners, experience extraordinary dining at Chandler's. This award-winning restaurant at Yankee Candle Village features a menu that changes regularly and one of the region's best wine cellars.
 

Chandler's Restaurant
25 Greenfield Road
South Deerfield, MA 01373

It's a short drive, just take exit 24 off I-91 North.

To make a reservation call (413) 665 - 1277 today!