Gnocchi with Sage and Brown Butter

Very simple and delicious gnocchi dish. Great as an entre or as an accompaniment to steak or chicken

Unbalanced

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Step 1

Set your oven to 200 degrees C

Step 2

Poke some holes in the potatoes with a skewer or fork

Step 3

Microwave potatoes for 5 minutes on high

Step 4

Transfer potatoes to oven, bake for approx. 40 minutes until they are well cooked and the skin in crispy and darkend

Step 5

Turn off oven and remove potatoes, set aside

Step 6

On a clean workspace (or on baking paper) liberally sprinkle about 80g of flour

Step 7

Cut the potatoes in half and squeeze them from their skins onto the flour. If you have a ricer or sieve you could use either to pass the potatoes through and make it super fine and lump free. The potato should come away from the skin easily and be very soft and easy to work with, however you do still want to avoid limps so it you wish to mash the potato a little before adding to the flour that is ok also - just try not to overwork it

Step 8

In a small bowl or cup melt 50g of butter, then drizzle it over the potato

Step 9

Gently combine the flour, potato and butter to form a dough. A dough scraper is ideal but almost anything will work - spatula, spoon, fork or similar. The trick here is to combine everything nicely into a consistent dough, but DO NOT overwork the potato or it can become gluey. So gently folding then pressing down, folding then pressing... is best. You may want to add more flour as you go to get the consistency right. As a rule; the more flour you use the more robust the gnocchi will be (less likely to fall apart on the boiling water), but less flour and more potato gives a lighter fluffier gnocchi

Step 10

Sprinkle more flour onto your workspace. separate the gnocchi dough into manageable portions, then roll each in the flour to form a long thin roll. About 2cm in diameter works well.

Step 11

With a floured knife or similar cut the dough into individual gnocchi pieces 1.5-2cm wide

Step 12

Get a large pot of water boiling

Step 13

In a fry pan start the brown butter sauce. Ideally you want a fry pan where it is easy to see the butter change colour - so a light bottomed ceramic or stainless steel is preferable to a dark pan, but anything will work you just may need to use a spoon to check the colour from time to time. Remaining butter goes into the pan over medium heat, best as several smaller block rather then one big lump. Add the sage leaves (stems removed), these will crisp up (delicious) and also flavour the butter. Stir the butter as it cooks, you want to push it until you see the browned milk solids separate out, the butter generally is darkened and there is a distinct nutty aroma. When it hits this point, pour the sauce out into a heat proof bowl to arrest the cooking process. It is possible to go too far and get a burnt result which is bitter. You may wish to reduce the heat a bit as it approaches the end of the cooking. Keep this pan handy as you will brown the gnocchi in it very soon Further tips here https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/how-to-brown-butter/

Step 14

Add

Step 15

Place the gnocchi into the boiling water and cook for about 3 minutes. After about 1-2 minutes you should see the gnocchi start to rise to the surface, leave it a bit longer before removing.

Step 16

Return the brown butter to the fry pan and put it back on the heat

Step 17

Once the gnocchi is cooked use a slotted spoon or similar to remove it from the water and transfer to the brown butter sauce. Try not to transfer too much water to the sauce as this may spit an flare up, but it's all part of the fun. Gently shake or flip the gnocchi in the pan until you see a bit of colour appear then serve immediately

Step 18

Add parmesan to taste