brown butter gnocchi with crispy sage
The first time I made this dish was for a at-home double date. I invited my bestie, Michelle, and her husband, Vitaliy, over for dinner and game night. We enjoyed seared ribeye steaks, basil tomato salad and brown butter gnocchi. To my surprise, everyone loved the gnocchi dish! I added pancetta for extra protein but feel free to omit it, my vegetarian friends. It is so simple and fast, you will have dinner ready in the 15 minutes.
brown butter gnocchi with crispy sage
Prep time: 15 minutes | Total time: 15 minutes
Serves: 2
Ingredients:
4-ounce piece pancetta, finely diced
Kosher salt
1 16-ounce package refrigerated gnocchi
4 tablespoon unsalted butter*
8-10 medium size sage leaves
Instructions:
Bring a large saucepan of water to boil. Season generously with kosher salt. The water should taste like the sea. Once boiling, add gnocchi and cook until gnocchi is warm through, about 3 minutes or according to package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water. Drain well in a colander and transfer to a serving platter.
Cook the pancetta in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer crisped pancetta to a paper towel-lined plate.
In the same pan, add butter. Adjust heat to low. Once butter has melted, add the sage leaves in an even layer. Let sage leaves infused the butter and get crispy on the sides, about 1 minute. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the crispy sage leaves to the plate with the pancetta. Continue to cook the butter and develop brown flecks and smells nutty, 30 seconds to 1 minute more. Remove from the heat.
Sprinkle pancetta over the gnocchi. Drizzle the brown butter all over. Top with sage leaves. Enjoy while warm.
Cook’s Note
Skip on pancetta and going vegetarian?*
Replace the rendered pancetta fat with 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, making it a total of 6 tablespoons.