Browned Butter and Sage Gnocchi

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When it comes to cooking, not that I know or am skillful at all cooking methods, deep-frying is one of those things I avoid. Shallow-frying, on the other hand, I find thoroughly satisfying. The latter is not any big achievement for sure. It’s just hot fat in a pan, and in you stick your food, out comes this deliciousness with a fairly crispy exterior. Dead easy. But the sizzling of hot fat in a pan is music to my ears, the scent of whatever you’re cooking wafts up so much quicker than steaming or boiling or stewing. It doesn’t pervade the whole kitchen and surrounding rooms as roasting in the oven does but it certainly is eau de parfum compared to eau de toilette.

And there’s something quite therapeutic about watching fresh sage leaves frying in a pan and watching them darken, curl then crisp up. Almost a bit like fresh prawns going from grey to crimson, curling as they cook from the heat. What a sight! I’ve been mulling about quite a few things lately, and there’s lots of stuff I don’t personally approve of happening at work so it was quite nice to empty my mind of everything and simply focus on preparing myself a hot cooked lunch.

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I last had gnocchi at Cafe Uno with loads of assorted mushrooms and a green pea sauce. The dinner crowd wasn’t huge and we were the only non-family trio there with a bottle of white to share. I’d not dined at Cafe Uno before but considering how delicious my gnocchi was, I wouldn’t mind going back again for more. Except, I remembered ogling at a plate of burnt butter and sage gnocchi over at Manggy’s blog and it looked far more delicious than what Cafe Uno had served up (no offense). The way Manggy seared his gnocchi and scattered the sage leaves on the plate…you need no words to describe it, except some flutterings of the heart. And there, I can’t help but say homecooking simply is the best. I love eating out but recreating similar dishes at home is just as wonderful, if not more.

This really is a non-recipe. Just add butter to a frying pan on gentle heat. When the butter melts, add the sage leaves and fry until they crisp up. I followed Manggy’s method of removing the sage leaves but added a tiny squeeze of lemon juice to the hot butter. Once the gnocchi were cooked, I drained and then added it to the hot butter. Quick toss then transferred to a warm plate, seasoned with salt and black pepper before adding the reserved sage leaves to the gnocchi.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 21st, 2010 at 11:58 amand is filed under Italian, lemon, pasta, savoury. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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