Tahini-butter gnocchi with squash, kale and crisp chickpeas

Name: Tahini-butter gnocchi with squash, kale and crisp chickpeas
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients: ½ medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into ¾-inch cubes (about 1 lb of cubes); 1 × 15 oz can chickpeas, drained, rinsed and dried very well; 3 tbsp olive oil (divided, plus a drizzle for the kale); 1 tsp ground cumin; 1 × 16 oz package shelf-stable potato gnocchi (16 to 17 oz); 1 bunch lacinato kale, stems stripped and leaves torn into big pieces; 3 tbsp salted butter; 2 tbsp tahini, well stirred; ½ lime, juiced; 2 tsp soy sauce; 1 tsp toasted sesame oil; 2 cloves garlic, finely grated (divided, half for the butter and half for the yogurt); ¾ cup full-fat Greek yogurt; 1 lemon, zest and juice; ¼ cup soft herbs, chopped (dill, parsley or mint, or a mix); 1 oz feta, crumbled; 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds; red pepper flakes, to finish; kosher salt

Everything roasts on one pan, the butter is cut with tahini and the yogurt stays on the side where it cannot soften a single chickpea.

At a Glance

Time

45 min

Adjust servings

Story

Soy, feta and butter all bring salt, and they come at the dish from three corners of the pan, so most of the seasoning is settled before you reach for the salt. That is why the yogurt sauce gets only an ounce of feta. The lemon, zest and all, is there for the other job, which is to be the bright, sour thing all that butter and tahini gets dragged through. Salt the squash, then taste everything else before you add any more.

Ingredients

½ medium butternut squashpeeled and cut into ¾-inch cubes (about 1 lb of cubes)
1 × 15 oz can chickpeasdrained, rinsed and dried very well
3 tbsp olive oildivided, plus a drizzle for the kale
1 tsp ground cumin
1 × 16 oz package shelf-stable potato gnocchi16 to 17 oz
1 bunch lacinato kalestems stripped and leaves torn into big pieces
3 tbsp salted butter
2 tbsp tahiniwell stirred
½ limejuiced
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
2 cloves garlicfinely grated (divided, half for the butter and half for the yogurt)
¾ cup full-fat Greek yogurt
1 lemonzest and juice
¼ cup soft herbschopped (dill, parsley or mint, or a mix)
1 oz fetacrumbled
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
red pepper flakesto finish
kosher salt

Method

In the tahini butter, the butter brings richness and the tahini a toasty edge of bitterness, and soy and lime keep it from going sleepy. Everything else happens on one sheet pan, in a set order, and the order does the work.

Oven to 450°F. On your biggest sheet pan, toss the squash with 1 tbsp of the oil, the cumin and a good pinch of salt and spread it out. Toss the chickpeas with 1 tbsp of oil and a pinch of salt and keep them together at one end of the pan, in one layer, so you can find them again later. Roast 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, melt the butter and whisk in the tahini, the lime juice, the soy sauce, the sesame oil and half the garlic. It may look grainy and split for a moment. Keep whisking and it comes together glossy. That is three kinds of sesame in one dish if you count the seeds at the end, and you should.
Stir the yogurt with the lemon zest and all of its juice, the herbs, the rest of the garlic and the feta. Taste it. It should taste of lemon first and cheese a distant second. Salt only if it truly needs it.
Pull the pan. Break apart any gnocchi stuck together in the packet, toss them with the last tablespoon of oil and tip them onto the pan among the squash, leaving the chickpeas where they are. Roast 15 to 18 minutes, turning the gnocchi and squash halfway, until the gnocchi puff and turn golden and the squash has browned at the edges.
Scatter the kale over the squash and gnocchi, drizzle it with a little oil, add a pinch of salt and roughly rub it in with tongs. Roast 4 to 5 minutes, until the edges of the leaves crisp and the rest just wilts.
Scoop the chickpeas into a small bowl. Pour the tahini butter over everything still on the pan and toss it right there until the gnocchi are coated. Scatter the chickpeas and the sesame seeds over the top.
Dollop the yogurt sauce along one side of the pan, beside the gnocchi and never over the top. A chickpea that has been sat on by yogurt is a soft chickpea, and nobody roasted it for that. Finish with red pepper flakes and take the pan to the table.