Where did October go? It’s been extremely busy at work, and my evenings and weekends are flying by. Tomorrow, I’ll be en route to San Diego for Adobe MAX. And when I return, I have a three-day offsite meeting to attend and countless tasks to juggle. There truly is no rest for the weary.
Thankfully, however, I had some free time on Sunday to mess around in the kitchen. As you can probably guess, I turned out these dainty pan-fried butternut squash dumplings.
While the recipe requires several steps – preparing the filling and then shaping, steaming and frying the dough-wrapped morsels – the effort is well worth it. Butternut squash dumplings are not only pleasing to the eye but also the palate, and make for a tasty hor d’oeuvre or happy hour nibble.
Recipe adapted from Food & Wine.
- 3 cups cubed butternut squash
- 5 fresh sage leaves
- 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
- 1 shallot, minced
- 40 wonton wrappers
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Place the butternut squash and sage leaves on a baking sheet. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and toss to coat. Spread in a single layer. Place garlic cloves on a piece of foil, drizzle with 1 teaspoon olive oil and fold to enclose. Place on the baking sheet with the squash. Bake for 20 minutes, remove from the oven and stir gently. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes or until squash is fork tender.
- When cool enough to handle, squeeze out roasted garlic and transfer to a large bowl. Chop roasted sage and transfer to bowl with roasted garlic. Add roasted squash and mash with a potato masher or fork.
- Heat 2 teaspoons olive oil in a fry pan over medium-high heat. Add shallot and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3 minutes. Transfer to bowl with garlic, sage and squash and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Place 1 teaspoon squash mixture in the center of a wonton wrapper. Brush two adjacent edges of the wrapper with water and fold wrapper in half to form a triangle, pressing the wet edges to the dry edges to seal. Brush the corners of the triangle with water and bring them together, pressing to seal. Transfer to a baking sheet dusted with flour. Repeat with remaining squash mixture and wonton wrappers.
- Fill a medium pot with about 2 cups water and bring to a simmer. Place 10-15 dumplings in a lightly oiled steamer basket (see notes*) and set it over simmering water. Cover and let steam for 5 minutes. Repeat with remaining dumplings.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large fry pan over medium-high heat. Add half of the steamed dumplings to pan and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side or until lightly brown and crisp. Remove from pan and transfer to a plate. Repeat with remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and steamed dumplings. Serve immediately with fried sage (see notes**), if desired.
**To make fried sage, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a small fry pan. Add sage leaves and cook until crisp. Remove from pan and place on a paper towel to cool. Season with salt.
I LOVE it when dumplings are pan-fried… that extra step adds so much texture and flavor!! 🙂
Agreed! The crispy bits are the best. 🙂