Sunday, August 30, 2015

Sunday Dinner

Earlier today, I made sweet tea and lemonade. It's funny that my dinner is so fall-themed. In terms of fresh stuff, I had apples, kale and a sweet potato in the house.  Add packaged gnocchi. Sounds like a plan!

It all started with the sweet potato and apple. Cut 'em chunky. Season with salt,  pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon and rosemary. Throw in a couple of pinches of sugar to help with the browning. I added about a teaspoon of unsalted butter.

Toss and throw everything into a screaming hot pan. Roast in a 400 oven.  I would have used cast iron, but there's no way I'm hand washing dishes on a Sunday night. Tri-ply All-Clad works nicely.


You're looking for some deep caramelizing. Turn the pieces over so they can brown on the other side.


Once done, transfer the food from the pan. Put the pan on the stove top. Drizzle in some olive oil and add a pat of butter.  Add the gnocchi and toss to coat.


 Don't forget to season. I used some ground sage this time.


Once these are done on one side, grab another pan for the brown butter. I use cold butter on heat.





Watch the butter carefully. See it's just starting to change color at the top of the pan. This happens after the foaming starts to subside.


Add the roasted stuff to the gnocchi to make sure everything is warm.


 Slowly. Slowly.


 When the solids turn the color of toast, you're good.


 Add some of the brown butter to the pan and toss.


Plate, drizzle with more brown butter and add a little cheese. The apply added surprisingly bright flavor -- very unexpected.


This is really missing some green. Fresh rosemary and sage would have been perfect. I also could have sauteed some kale. I was concerned about how kale, rosemary and sage would go together.

Tools of the Trade

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