Squash gnocchi with butter and sage

Ingredients to serve 4

Squash gnocchi with butter and sage

For the gnocchi

300g butternut squash
Fresh sage leaves
Olive oil
Sea salt
700g large floury potatoes, such as King Edwards
2 egg yolks
200g plain flour, plus extra for rolling
2 litres vegetable stock

For the sauce

6 tablespoons butter
10 sage leaves, chopped
Juice of half a lemon
75g freshly grated parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 200C/180 fan/gas mark 6. Peel the butternut squash and dice the flesh. Place the squash on a baking tray and scatter with sage, olive oil and sea salt. Cook for 30 minutes until tender. Remove the squash from the oven, discard the sage and press through a potato ricer into a bowl.

Meanwhile, cook the unpeeled potatoes in a large pan of boiling salted water for 30 minutes until soft. Drain and allow to cool slightly. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel them and mash or press through a potato ricer into the same bowl as the squash. Season with salt and then beat the egg yolks and flour into the potatoes and squash, a little at a time, to form a smooth, slightly sticky dough.

Tip the dough onto a floured board, then roll into long sausages about 1cm thick. Cut into 2cm sections. Place each piece on a fork and press down with your thumb and roll onto the board, leaving grooves on one side of the gnocchi.

Heat the vegetable stock in a large pan and cook the gnocchi by dropping them, in batches, into the stock for about 5 minutes – when they float to the surface they are ready

While your gnocchi are cooking, made the sauce. Melt the butter in a pan and heat gently until the butter becomes a light golden brown colour. Add the sage and remove from the heat, then add the lemon juice. Take the gnocchi from the stock and add to the sage sauce, adding a little of the stock as well. Toss together and then add the cheese. Toss again and serve immediately with extra cheese.

Taken from 'Fresh & Green' by Aldo Zilli (Simon & Schuster, £20.99).