Dark Days Challenge 2010 - Week 8

This week's  Dark Days Challenge meal was roasted chicken with butternut squash gnocchi.  The chicken is one from farmer Allan - well it's from an Amish farmer in PA but I bought it from farmer Allan.  These chickens are the perfect size for my family as we get a couple of meals plus a nice amount of stock.

One of the gifts I received for Christmas was a yogurt maker and this week I made my first batch.  I decided to marinate the chicken in a yogurt mixture.  First the yogurt was drained a bit, then mixed with dry mustard, thyme, coriander, salt and pepper.  Now that I have a nice pair of poultry shears, it's quick work to cut the chicken into pieces.  Yogurt was smeared all over and I let it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Cut up chicken

Yogurt draining

I have made butternut squash gnocchi several times with various degrees of success.  Sometimes it's too heavy but the last recipe I used turned out nice and light.  I used the same recipe this time but alas, they were a little too soggy - not enough flour.

Squash from my garden - thawed.  It's not actually butternut but a kind called Amber Cup.  I should have sauteed it for a little bit to get out a lot of the liquid.  I think that was part of the problem.

The mixture.  Spooned into boiling water and boiled until floating.  I scooped them out and put in a dish and baked in oven with butter.  The mixture has local eggs but I forgot to use my local flour.

Gnocchi and roast chicken.  The gnocchi weren't bad but I decided to put them back into the oven and bake some more to see if they would firm up better.