Simple Recipe- Gnocchi with Sage and Butter Sauce

As promised, here is how we served the gnocchi from the previous post.

Being the first time we made gnocchi, we decided to go with a simple sauce, that will not overshadow the fruit of our labour, but will complement these amazing Italian dumplings perfectly.

This whole sauce takes about 3 minutes so time your cooking very carefully and coordinate it with the boiling gnocchi. In a large pan we melted about 50g of butter and when it started to bubble we added the chopped sage and after 1 minute we added 2 cloves of garlic, also chopped.  After 2 minutes, add the pasta and toss it around in the sauce, making sure it is well coated.

Cook it for another 2 minutes, after which it should have a light brown colour. Serve it with grated parmesan.

For a twist, we also added to the recipe  after putting the gnocchi in the butter some canned salsify (oyster plant). You just need to heat it up, there is no cooking neccesary with the canned type. It brings a nice touch to the dish with its slightly tangy taste and it is fleshy enough to subtitute meat.

I am impressed by this Italian classic and how the gnocchi absorbs the flavour. Actually, the little line marks you make with a special tool or with the fork have this purpose, to hold the flavours better. I have been wanting to try and make the homemade version for some time now. I remember the first time I had this kind of pasta, I was in Bregenz, Austria, and an Italian restaurant. I wanted to try the gnocchi so I asked the waiter what it was. I will never forget the surprised look on his face and his answer : Gnocchi is Gnocchi! And, now, I have to say, he was right, you can't really find a comparison.

I know the butter sauce is not actually a staple of Italian Cuisine, but it works perfectly with the gnocchi and it couldn't be easier.

Hope you try it and enjoy it like we did.