Whole Wheat Gnocchi with Brown Butter Sage Sauce.

I love gnocchi. Always have. It was the one pasta I always ordered when we went out to dinner with my family as a child and now even as an adult. Funny, now my kids love it too! I thought I would mix it up and not make the traditional red sauce and opted to do a brown butter sage sauce. I have a ton of sage in my garden that I want to use it before the chilly weather takes it away from me. The pasta, using whole wheat flour, definitely yielded a heavier gnocchi versus a traditional all-purpose flour that is lighter and airier so I will leave that up to you. Buon appetito!

Ingredients:

8 oz part skim ricotta cheese
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 c freshly grated Grana Padana
2 garlic cloves, grated
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 3/4 -2 c white whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour

Directions:

In your stand mixer with the paddle attachment on, combine all of the ingredients through the garlic powder. Then you will add 1 3/4 cups of the flour. If the mixture is still too sticky, add the additional 1/4 cup.

Then remove the dough and place on a floured surface. Divide it into 4ths. Take the first ball of dough and work it into a snake shape about 1/2 inch thick. Slice into 1/2 inch pieces. If you have a gnocchi board, run the dough down the board to achieve the gnocchi shape with the groves. If not, roll the dough down the tines of a fork. You will get the hang of it the more you do it.

I place the rolled out gnocchi on a cookie sheet. You can either freeze (then after about an hour bag them to freeze for a longer duration), store in the refrigerator until you’re ready to cook and cook immediately. In a large Dutch oven, fill about 3/4th of the way filled (you should always boil pasta in a large amount of salted water) and gently place the gnocchi in the boiling water. Don’t overcrowd and work in batches. When they float to the top, they are done.

Sauce:

4 tablespoons of the best quality butter you can find.
12 fresh sage leaves

Directions:

In a sauce pan melt your butter over low heat. Keep cooking it until the butter turns a lovely tan/brown color – avoid burning. Then remove from the heat and add the sage leaves. Toss over the cooked gnocchi and serve immediately. Season as needed.