Butternut Squash Pear Gnocchi

Topped w/ Brown Butter, toasted Pine Nuts, wilted Baby Spinach and Gorgonzola Cheese

So I've totally been slacking with the posts after a very hectic summer.... Now I've gotten some wonderful inspiration to cook with all of the fall produce (and someone to cook for *eeeeee!*).  The last few things have been genuinely amazing (though no pictures to share).... I do have recipes if anyone is interested....

• Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes w/ "Creamcheese" frosting
• Caramelized Onion, Red Pear, Gorgonzola Cheese and Pine Nut Pizza (battle wounds from this one)
• Roasted Rainbow Veggie Sandwiches with Goat Cheese spread on Potato rolls
• Pumpkin Waffles w/ Maple Pecan Carmel Sauce 

Then there's tonight's featured dish which was basically using up the ingredients I have at the house already...

So totally making up the recipe here:

Gnocchi:
1 small Butternut Squash
1 Medium Onion
1 Large Red Pear
4 Tablespoons Butter
Salt & Pepper
Olive oil

Cut the squash in half and seed it and place in a baking dish (glass cake pan worked great.) Slice the onion up and put on top of the squash, slice the pear and put on top of the onion. drizzle all of it with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Slice the butter into pieces and place on top.  Roast in the (400 degree) oven about an hour until the squash is cooked through.  Let sit to cool..... The next step is to scoop the squash flesh out of the rind, and combine it with the liquid in the pan and the other ingredients to make a puree... you can use a food processor... or old school little house on the prairie style with a ricer.  I chose the latter.

Then combine your puree with about 4 C (ish) Flour, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon grated nutmeg, 1 teaspoon dried/rubbed sage, and salt and pepper to taste... keep working in flour until you get an almost dry dough.... this could take a whole lot more flour depending on how thin your puree was....

Once the dough is at a good texture, roll out into small logs and cut off pillow shaped pieces or roll between your hands to get football shapes... You can also go traditional, but that's a whole lotta work....

Throw into a boiling pot of salted water for about 2-3 minutes or until they start to float... drain...

(I made 1/2 the recipe up for dinner and froze the other half of the dough)

Sauce
1 stick unsalted butter
1/4 C pine nuts
4 C baby spinach

Melt the butter over medium heat until it gets bubbly and starts to smell like caramel, toss in the nuts till they get golden, add spinach and mix to just barely wilt, add a little salt and pepper to taste.... toss in your gnocchi that has been drained and mix to cover all the pasta....

Top with about 4 oz Gorgonzola cheese while still in the pan till its all melty and bubbly.

That's roughly what I did and gosh it tastes amazing.... Like I said recipes are available for everything else upon request... all have been tested by an independent source (my SOS) and has been raved about.

Cheers!
-M