Butternut Squash and Mushroom Dumplings

Preparation

Make dough

Put spinach and water in a blender, blend until smooth. Pour spinach mixture through a sieve into a container to get the spinach liquid. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, salt and 3/4 cups of spinach water and mix together until clumpy. Then with your hands, start kneading the dough until it becomes smooth and the surface is uniform, about 8-10 minutes. Cover and let dough proof for an hour.

Roast mushrooms and squash

Preheat an oven to 400°F. Cut the butternut squash in half, then scoop out the seeds with a spoon and remove skin with a peeler. With a knife or mandolin, cut squash into thin slices. On a sheet pan covered with parchment paper, evenly layout squash slices and coat with olive oil and salt/pepper to taste. Place butternut squash into the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes until softened and with slightly browned edges.

While the butternut squash cooks, prep mushrooms by throwing them in a separate mixing bowl with a generous amount of olive oil. Massage in some salt and pepper to taste as well. Evenly lay out all your mushrooms on a sheetpan lined with parchment paper, then place in oven once your butternut squash is done cooking. (You can cook both the squash and the mushrooms if you have enough oven racks or space in your oven, just set separate timers accordingly).

Cook mushrooms for 10-15 minutes until your mushrooms have cooked through and soft, with slightly browned edges.

Make filling

In a mixing bowl, mash butternut squash slices using a fork. Next, dice roasted mushrooms place into the mixing bowl with squash. Finally throw in the remaining ingredients and mix to create the filling.

Make wrappers

If rolling by hand: Lightly dust a work surface with flour. When your dough is ready, roll into four cylinders with the thickness of hot dogs, then cut into 1 inch pieces. Turn each piece cut side up and with the palm of your hand, press down onto it to flatten to make a roughly flattened circle. Dust each side with flour and then with a rolling pin, flatten to create an circular wrapper to desired thickness. Repeat with the rest of your marshmellow dough pieces until you have a bunch of wrappers. Make sure to flour each wrapper as you roll them out so they don’t stick to each other and cover with plastic wrap so they don't dry out.

If using a pasta machine: Lightly dust a work surface with flour. When your dough is ready, take out and cut in half. Use your fingers and create a rough rectangle with your two halves the size of a 3x5 index card (it doesn't have to be exact) and put dough through your pasta machine at the lowest setting. Take your flattened rectangles and fold each into thirds, use your fingers again to create same rough 3x5 rectangle shape once again (the Italian grandmas say this step improves the texture/elasticity of the dough so I happily oblige). Put your dough rectangles through the pasta machine at its lowest setting. Increase the pasta machine setting by one, then run your flattened pasta dough through again. Repeat this step, increasing the setting by one and running your dough through until you're at the 4th or 5th setting of your pasta machine (depending on how thick or thin you like your wrappers).

Fold and seal dumplings

You can fold the dumplings however you'd like and have fun with it! For a classic circular fold, place a spoonful of filling in the center of your flattened dough. Then pleat around the meat with small folds, pushing the meat down as the wrapper starts to close in around it. Seal the dumpling and set aside.

Cook dumplings and serve

If steam-frying — In a nonstick pan, add generous dab of oil and place dumplings bottoms down and fry on medium-high heat for 1-2 minutes. When the bottoms have browned, add 1/4 cup of water and place a lid on top (the water will splatter when it hits the oil so just be careful!) cover and steam for 5 minutes on medium heat. If water evaporates before 5 minutes, add a tablespoon more at a time. Once the water has evaporated at the 5 minute mark, use a thin metal spatula to take dumplings out of the plan, then serve. Garnish the tops with scallions and/or any of your favorite fresh herbs.

If steaming — In a bamboo steamer place parchment paper underneath each shumai (or get steamer liners with holes in them) and place shumai's on top. Place your steamer with dumplings on top of a shallow pot with boiling water. Steam for 5 minutes until wrappers and filling have cooked through, serve.