Blue pumpkin pie?

Well, why not? There are blue pumpkins aplenty — maybe they're more of a subtle grayish-green than forthright Smurf blue, but they have become the fall decorating pumpkins of choice in recent years. These newly popular pumpkins are beautiful, but can you cook with them?

Elissa Eubanks/Staff (ENLARGE)

From top, Cinderella, Jarrahdale Blue and New England Pie pumpkins stack up to good eating at Sawicki's Meat, Seafood & More in Decatur.

Elissa Eubanks/Staff (ENLARGE)

Lynne Sawicki's pumpkin gnocchi recipe includes ricotta cheese and nutmeg.

Elissa Eubanks/Staff (ENLARGE)

Lynne Sawicki sells her heirloom pumpkin pie at the gourmet shop Sawicki's Meat, Seafood & More in Decatur.

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Absolutely, says Lynne Sawicki, who runs the Decatur gourmet shop Sawicki's Meat, Seafood & More. Sawicki offers an heirloom pumpkin pie on her carryout Thanksgiving menu. Though it sounds like a pastry rescued from her elderly aunt's sideboard, it is in fact a dessert made luscious with freshly roasted flesh from a pumpkin variety that offers more sweet, bright flavor than the standard orange ones.

Sawicki traveled to Burt's Farm in North Georgia to load up on a variety of colorful pumpkins — white, red, blue, green — to offer for sale in her store. Ever the curious cook, she couldn't resist cutting into the pumpkins, roasting them and seeing how they performed.

What Sawicki found was two general kinds of pumpkin. One kind cooked up heavy and starchy — good as a vegetable, not as a pie. Sawicki found these pumpkins worked ideally in her recipe for pumpkin gnocchi. The other was loose and sweet — receptive to the flavors of warm spices and perfect for pie.

Those eye-catching blue pumpkins, it turned out, were not for pie. But blue gnocchi? Now that's good eating.

Here are Lynne Sawicki's favorite heirloom pumpkins with their recommended uses.

For gnocchi and as a vegetable:

• Jarrahdale Blue: The pale orange flesh emerges from the roasting pan with the heavy richness of a baked potato and a flavor somewhat like butternut squash. It is ideal for gnocchi.

• Musque de Provence: These deeply ribbed orange pumpkins come from France, where chunks are sold in supermarkets for use in soups. Moderately sweet, it is sometimes called Fairytale on these shores. The skin is prone to a creepy-looking but harmless wartiness.

For pies and sweets:

• New England Pie: These small, bright orange pumpkins with creamy, not stringy, flesh are ideal for making one or two pies without leftovers.

• Long Island Cheese: So named because it looks like a cheese wheel, these squashes yield a deep orange flesh that makes an excellent, dark-colored pie.

• Rouge Vif d'Etampes: Like the Fairytale, this French heirloom pumpkin was rechristened as Cinderella for the American market. A lovely mottled green and orange, it is nearly big enough for the princess' carriage and yields bright, clean, sweet-flavored flesh.

Heirloom Pumpkin Pie
10 servings

Hands on: 45 minutes
Total time: 2 1/2 hours

The dough recipe makes 2 9-inch crusts, enough for 2 pies. You can freeze the leftover portion for later use.

Pie Dough:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
About 6 tablespoons ice water

Blend flour, sugar and salt in food processor. Add butter and cut in, using on/off turns, until coarse meal forms. Add 3 tablespoons water. Using on/off turns, blend just until moist clumps form, adding more water by 1/2-tablespoon increments if dough is dry. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disc. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate 1 hour. Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled. Soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out to fit a 9-inch pie pan.

Filling:
16 ounces roasted sweet heirloom pumpkin meat
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/3 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/3 cup English toffee bits

Whisk first 11 ingredients together in large bowl. Pour into prepared crust. Bake at 375 degrees until filling is set, about 45-55 minutes. Transfer to rack to cool. Sprinkle toffee bits around edge of hot pie, forming a border. Cool pie completely. Can be made 6 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.

Per serving: 299 calories (percent of calories from fat, 42), 5 grams protein, 40 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber, 15 grams fat (9 grams saturated), 79 milligrams cholesterol, 245 milligrams sodium.

Heirloom Pumpkin Gnocchi with Brown Butter and Sage
8 to 10 servings as a first course

Hands on: 1 hour
Total time: 3 hours

You can cut down on the prep time considerably if you use a firm, cheesy baking ricotta such as the Del Pastaio from Grande. You can buy it at Sawicki's Meat, Seafood & More. To roast pumpkins: Quarter pumpkins and scoop out seeds and pith. Place skin side down in a high-sided roasting dish. Add 1 cup of water to dish and cover tightly. Roast, covered, for 45-50 minutes, or until fully tender. Let cool.

3 cups mashed, roasted starchy heirloom pumpkin
12 ounces ricotta cheese, drained in sieve for 2 hours
1 cup grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2 3/4 or more cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
6 tablespoons chopped fresh sage plus whole leaves for garnish

Place roasted pumpkin in large bowl. Add ricotta and blend well. Add Parmesan, brown sugar, 1 tablespoon salt and nutmeg; mash to blend. Mix in flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, until soft dough forms. Taste and add more salt if needed.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface and divide into 6 equal pieces. Rolling between palms of hands and floured work surface, form each into a 1 inch (or so) rope. Sprinkle with flour if sticky. Cut each rope into 20 to 25 pieces. Roll each piece over tines of fork to indent.

Bring a large pot of water to boil; add the rest of the salt to it. Working in batches, boil gnocchi until it floats to the top of pot; about 5 minutes. Immerse cooked gnocchi into an ice water bath and transfer onto a cookie sheet. You may freeze them at this point, making sure not to overlap them or have them touch.

In a heavy saucepan over medium high heat, melt butter. Cook until butter solids are brown and have a toasty aroma, about 5 minutes. Add sage to the browned butter, then add gnocchi. Saute until gnocchi are heated through, about 6 minutes.

Plate and garnish with sage leaves.

Per serving, based on 8: 506 calories (percent of calories from fat, 53), 15 grams protein, 45 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams fiber, 30 grams fat (19 grams saturated), 83 milligrams cholesterol, 1,847 milligrams sodium.