the review: chicken piccata and gnocchi with brown butter and sage

For some reason during Thanksgiving week, I thought it would be a good idea to make homemade gnocchi. On a weeknight. Crazy talk, people. But what are you going to do when you have an envie? 

My lovely husband got on board. Perhaps he could see the food anguish in my face. I wanted the food and I wanted it to be delicious but I had absolutely no inclination to make it. He tackled the chicken, bless his heart. Actually, he rocked the chicken. With no complaints. The Chicken Piccata on page 316 of The Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook is worth the price of admission. Perfectly balanced flavor and well worth every single minute in the kitchen. Especially if you can get someone else to cook it.

While Rob made the chicken, Théa and I tackled the gnocchi. (P.S. don't I look just fantastic in this photo?) This particular recipe is called “baked potato gnocchi” which gave me the impression that the gnocchi would somehow be baked. Not so. The potato is baked and then turned into gnocchi. I’ll admit that I was not, on a Monday night, interested in waiting for a potato to bake in the oven. Totally used my microwave. I realize that this was completely un-Italian. If I had it to do over again (and all the time in the universe), I’d bake the potatoes.

Gnocchi is very fun to make, especially if you are four. There is squeezing the ricer (get a ricer if you like gnocchi at all – worth every penny). There is rolling and cutting and marking. It’s like playing with play-do only you get to eat your creation once you are done making it. The cooking part is fun too – when the gnocchi is cooked, it floats to the top of the boiling water. No timing to mess up. A word of warning, though. It is very easy to end up with tough gnocchi if the proportions are not correct. I’m still working on this one. Best I can say is use your kitchen scale and practice, practice, practice.

The sauce for this particular gnocchi recipe was browned butter (which we all know I love) and sage. What can go wrong? I can’t believe I’m saying this, but too much butter. I would for sure make this recipe again but I would cut down the butter a bit. Like maybe by half. Or maybe just a quarter. I don’t know. You could make the whole batch of brown butter then use some for doughnuts. Just saying.

Bottom line? This was an excellent supper (served with a spinach salad) enjoyed by all. I would make every bit of it again with minor modifications. This is a perfect meal for a cold winter night. Light some candles. Enjoy the fire. Buon Appetito!