Vegan Pumpkin Gnocchi with Creamy Spinach Sauce
The whole season of autumn feels like “Pumpkin Everything “to us. During this time, we could add pumpkin to every possible dish, whether it’s savory or sweet. Today we’ll cook pumpkin gnocchi, a variant of the small Italian potato dumplings. For this, we used a Hokkaido pumpkin, but you could also use butternut or musquee pumpkin. Even though you can eat the peel of most of these pumpkins, you should remove it for this recipe, as the small pieces of peel can’t be mashed. You’ll otherwise end up with a strange texture of your gnocchi.
Preparing the dough for gnocchi is always a matter of your own judgment. It’s important that the dough isn’t sticky in the end, which happens with pumpkin gnocchi quicker than with a dough consisting of potatoes only. The dough will be a bit softer when you add mashed pumpkin. Therefore we add extra potato starch to regular flour. It’s best to start with half of the flour first, then add as much flour as needed until your dough has the right consistency. You could also add some more potato starch if necessary. We stuck with a very simple gnocchi form today and only cut the dough into smaller pieces – this way, the gnocchi will look like fluffy cushions in the end. If desired, you can roll them over a fork to create the typical gnocchi pattern.
As with some recipes in the past, we were supported by LUVE on this one. Their products are staples in our fridge and freezer, and their vegan spread called “Streichglück” is really all you need to add creaminess to the spinach sauce. The spread is also available with herbs or bruschetta-flavored, but we’ve chosen the plain option for this recipe. And because we wanted this dish to be extra creamy, we added a few dollops of the vegan cream cheese on top for serving. Like all LUVE products, “Streichglück “is made from local lupins from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It’s also free from lactose, soy, and GMO and contains no artificial flavors, colorings, or flavor enhancers. In Germany, you can find their products at EDEKA, real, Kaufland, Aldi Nord, Veganz, or at online delivery services.
Vegan Pumpkin Gnocchi with Creamy Spinach Sauce
Ingredients
For the gnocchi:
- 300 g (10.5 oz) Hokkaido pumpkin
- 250 g (9 oz) floury potatoes
- 200 g (1.66 cups) flour
- 3 tbsp potato starch
- salt
- pepper
- nutmeg
For the vegan creamy spinach sauce:
- 350 g (12.5 oz) frozen spinach
- 150 g (5.5 oz) vegan cream cheese (e.g., LUVE „Streichglück Natur“)
- 1 onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 50 g (2 oz) cashews
- salt
- pepper
- nutmeg
- olive oil for frying
Instructions
Cut off a large piece of the pumpkin that is enough for what you need for this recipe. Deseed, peel, and chop pumpkin. Peel and chop floury potatoes, then add both to a large pot. Cover with water, season with salt, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for approx. 20 minutes, or until potatoes and pumpkin are fork-tender.
In the meantime, prepare the creamy spinach sauce. Peel and finely dice onion and garlic. Finely chop cashews and set aside. Heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium-low heat. Fry onion and garlic until translucent, then season with salt and pepper. Add frozen spinach, place a lid on top of the frying pan, and heat the spinach until thawed.
Remove the lid from the frying pan, add vegan cream cheese and stir to combine. Season the sauce with salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste. Keep warm over medium-low heat.
Once potatoes and pumpkin are soft, drain, and mash until smooth. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste. Add potato starch and half of the flour. Start to knead the mixture until a rough dough forms. Transfer the dough to a floured surface, then add flour little by little until the dough isn’t sticky anymore. It’s possible that you’ll need less or more flour until you reach the right consistency.
Quarter the dough and form each part to a medium-thick log. Cut each log into equal-sized pieces, approx.1-2 cm wide. You can keep the gnocchi like that or roll them over a fork to create the typical gnocchi pattern. If the dough should be sticky at that step, dust with some flour.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook gnocchi in batches until they float on the surface – that’s how you know that they are done. Remove gnocchi from the pot, then directly add them to the spinach sauce. It’s totally fine if you also add some of the cooking water to the sauce at this point, as this will help to bind the sauce. Add as much cooking water as needed, until you get a creamy sauce that’s coating the gnocchi. Lastly, add chopped cashews to the gnocchi.
If desired, serve gnocchi with some extra dollops of vegan cream cheese on top.
