winter comfort food

Potato Gnocchi with Sage Browned Butter Sauce

This is by no means an original idea, as I'm sure there are many other pasta/gnocchi recipes with browned butter out there. Anyway...

I cheated with store-bought gnocchi. But I didn't cheat by using my usual non-dairy Earth Balance spread for this dish, in which the butter should stand out. I went all-out and used Lurpak Danish butter, which is SO good. My rare luxury.

I browned the butter in a cast iron skillet. The trick is to melt the butter slowly, so it doesn't burn. To that I added a small handful of fresh sage leaves, and let the sage cook slowly to become crisp. Enjoyed the scents in my kitchen. I then added the gnocchi, which I had cooked separately in a pot of salted boiling water (it only took 2-3 minutes). I just timed it so that the gnocchi would be ready just as the butter sauce was ready, so all I had to do was scoop out the gnocchi from the water with a slotted spoon and transfer them directly to the skillet. I gave it a gentle toss, added sea salt and freshly ground pepper, and that was it.

See those browned bits on the gnocchi? Yummy goodness.


Simple, rustic, and delicious.

(ed. 2/8/10: I am experimenting with more uses for sage browned butter. It's such a fall/winter flavor for me because it goes so well with hearty food that's such a comfort during the colder season. It's great on roasted potatoes, drizzled onto white bean soup just before serving, and even on grilled cheese! I love, love, LOVE sage browned butter. If anyone has other [non-meat] ideas, post a comment here. I'd like to hear it!)