Amazing Fall Gnocchi

I randomly stumbled upon Liz's Cooking Blog, where she had a divine looking recipe consisting of gnocchi, butternut squash, sage, and pine nuts. I had all these ingredients on hand the other night, plus I had bacon that I needed to use up. I decided to toss that in too. The result was to die for. Really. I want to make this weekly, it was that good.

Ingredients

1 medium butternut squash
4 cloves garlic, minced
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Fresh sage leaves
1 package gnocchi
3/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
Grated Parmesan

The original recipe called for an onion, which I didn't bother with, but I did up the garlic a bit. I probably used fewer pine nuts too.

Directions

Heat the oven to 375°. Cut the butternut squash in half and scoop out the strings and seeds the middle cavity. Flip the squash halves upside down and peel them. Cut the squash into 1-inch cubes. Toss with the garlic, a drizzle of olive oil, and salt and pepper. Mince about half of the fresh sage leaves and also toss with the squash.

Spread the squash mixture in a thin layer on a large baking sheet and roast for about 40 minutes or until the squash is soft.

As the squash finishes roasting, chop the bacon into one inch strips and fry in a deep skillet. Once the bacon starts getting crispy, push it to one side of the pan and toss whole sage leaves into the oil. Fry for about a minute, then turn the heat down to low and mix into the bacon. If there is too much oil in the pan at this point, drain off a couple tablespoons.

Remove the butternut squash from the oven and add to the bacon and sage mixture.

Heat salted pasta water to boiling and cook the gnocchi. Before draining the gnocchi, spoon a couple tablespoons of the water into the bacon and squash mixture and stir it, deglazing the pan.

Drain the gnocchi and set aside.

With the heat still on low, add the gnocchi to the bacon and squash mixture. Mix together and add the pine nuts. Serve with grated parmesan cheese.