According to a Roman-Italian practice, on Thursdays it was customary to eat gnocchi /’ɲɔkki/ “Thursday gnocchi”. However, it’s a very welcome dish regardless of the day of the week. They are considered carriers of good mood, which is why we also have a popular saying

“Ridi, ridi, che la mamma ha fatto i gnocchi” (Laugh, laugh, that mom made gnocchi)

Here’s our Sara’s original recipe in Italian. Buon Appetibilis!

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Potato gnocchi with pumpkin cream, mushrooms and chopped pistachios

Ingredienti:
4 potatoes (about 1 kg)
300 g all purpose flour
1 egg
500 g pumpkin
300 g button mushrooms (champignon)
½ medium onion
50 g toasted unsalted pistachios
salt to taste
oil to taste

Directions
Gnocchi dough
To prepare the gnocchi, you need to boil the potatoes in a large pot. Cover them with plenty of cold water, bring to a boil and cook for about 30-40 minutes; cooking depends on the size of the potatoes, do the test with a fork and if the prongs enter easily you can drain them.

Pour the flour onto the work surface, mash the peeled potatoes still hot in the center, add the salt and the egg and knead quickly to form a dough. If the dough is too sticky, add some flour.

Form cylinders of dough about 2 cm thick, cut the loaves to obtain small pieces, then you can give them the typical striped shape with the help of the fork tines. Flour the gnocchi to prevent them from sticking together.

For the pumpkin cream
Finely chop the onion and fry it in a large pan with extra virgin olive oil. As soon as it is wilted, add the diced pumpkin and 1 glass of hot water; salt and pepper to taste. As soon as the pumpkin has become soft, purée it with an immersion blender.
Separately, cook the sliced mushrooms, tossing them in a pan with extra virgin olive oil.

Serving
Cook the gnocchi in boiling salted water, being careful to drain them as soon as they come back to the surface. Sauté them in a pan with the pumpkin cream and mushrooms.

Serve with a generous sprinkling of chopped pistachios previously toasted.