Mushroom, Thyme, and Sage Gnocchi in a Brown Butter Sauce

Hello again.

It’s been a while. Please still give this recipe a look-I promise it’s worth it. The other day my mum was cleaning out the cupboard and found a package of gnocchi. She declared she was not going to use it, and being a college student desperate for an opportunity to cook something a little bit nicer than typical, I graciously took them off her hands.

Aren’t I such a kind daughter?

In all honesty, a couple months ago my mum and I went to Chabrol, a restaurant near my dorm, and I had a mushroom ragout that was to die for. Ever since I’ve been pinning(go follow my Pinterest if you’re interested!) recipes and compiling my own buttery herbaceous mushroom dish. I was kinda picking and choosing different elements and ingredients I wanted until I came up with a list:

• mushrooms- definitely oyster, maybe some others
• brown butter
• thyme
• sage
• white wine
• gnocchi

I mean honestly, if you combine all of those, how bad can it possibly go??

I decided to begin with the mushrooms. Oyster, yes, but I wanted it to have a mix-give it a little variety. I ended up settling on a mix of oyster, shiitake, and king oyster. Given the chance, I would have loved to also have some morels (we have a patch where they grow at home) and any wild mushrooms: hen of the woods, chanterelles, etc. Honestly, you can use a mix of whatever you’d like, I just chose these for myself.

I knew I wanted sage from the beginning and thought thyme might compliment it nicely. I’ve worked with brown butter in sweet recipes but never savoury, and knew I wanted to incorporate that. If you’ve never had brown butter before, you’re missing out-basically, the milk solids turn brown and you end up with a gloriously toasty rich flavour. It’s incredible.

I also knew if I did a purely brown butter sauce it would be ridiculously rich, and combined with the gnocchi, would just be a little bit too much for a meal. So that’s where the white wine came it-add a little acidity, a little more flavour. I used a dry white wine that my mum gave me.

So I had my herbs, mushrooms, and sauce base. From there I just kinda decided to wing it.

It worked out ok, I think? This is a new step for me as a baker who prefers to weigh everything to the gram……..

 

 

Mushroom, Thyme, and Sage Gnocchi in a Brown Butter Sauce

Serves: 3

Ingredients

• olive oil
• 1 large clove of garlic, minced
• 2 handfuls of chopped mushrooms
• pinch of salt
• 4-5 tbsps unsalted butter
• 3 sprigs of fresh thyme, stripped from the stem
• 4 leaves of fresh sage, chopped roughly
• white wine
• 1/2 package pre-made gnocchi
• 2-3 large pinches of grated parmesan cheese
• parsley, for garnish
• lemon wedge(optional)

Method

1. heat the olive oil and garlic in a pan over medium heat. Get the garlic to a nice, brown colour, but don’t let it burn. Add the mushrooms and pinch of salt, and turn the heat down a little. Let them sweat out and get nice and brown.
2. Start a pot of salted water for you gnocchi
3. Once the mushrooms have sweat out, add the herbs and butter.
4. Turn the heat up to medium and let go for 4-5 minutes. You’ll smell the butter once it’s browned: It’s very distinct. plus there will be a bit of a colour change. keep mixing things around to keep it from burning. you can give it a taste, and
5. While your butter browns, the water for your gnocchi should begin boiling. I used half a package because I didn’t want the gnocchi aspect to be too heavy, and to have more mushrooms, but if you want to use more, that’s your choice. Add the gnocchi to the water and keep an eye on them. Cook them according to the package, but they’re typically done if they float.
6. Once the butter is browned, add in enough wine to cover the bottom of the pan, and turn the heat up to medium-high. Stir stuff around, and let the sauce reduce with the butter. It will smell incredible.
7. When your gnocchi is done, drain them. Add them to the pan with the mushrooms, and keep letting the sauce reduce until it can coat the gnocchi.
8. Take it off the heat. Add the parm and stir it around to coat. let cool for a moment. Garnish with the parsley, and a squeeze of lemon if you’d like.
9. Die and go to heaven.

Let me know if you tried this recipe, and anything you have to add!