Gnocchi with Mushrooms and Sage Butter

From Everyday with Rachael Ray



Ingredients:
1 large baking potato (about 12 ounces)
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/3 cup Basic Batter Salt and pepper
1/4 cup flour
1 stick (4 ounces) butter
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound cremini mushrooms, sliced
2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Directions:
1. Microwave the potato on high until tender, about 12 minutes; let cool slightly. Peel and mash until smooth.

2. In a large bowl, combine the potato, ricotta and parsley. Stir in the batter and season with salt. Stir in the flour. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and roll into a 3/4-inch-thick rope. Cut the dough crosswise into 1-inch pieces.

3. In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons butter and 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Add half of the mushrooms and cook, undisturbed, for 5 minutes; stir and cook for 1 minute longer. Season with salt and pepper; transfer to a plate. Repeat with 2 more tablespoons butter, the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil and the remaining mushrooms. Stir in the remaining 4 tablespoons butter, the sage, nutmeg and reserved mushrooms; cover to keep warm.

4. In a pot of simmering, salted water, working in 3 batches, cook the gnocchi until tender and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a platter. Pour the mushroom mixture on top and toss.

Comments:
Yes, yes, I completely sold out and used pre-packaged gnocchi. This wasn't even a very hard gnocchi recipe and I still wimped out. I hang my head in shame. If only those stupid Colavita gnocchi weren't so good!

Anyway, gnocchi aside, this was pretty easy to throw together. It was my side-prepped meal that caused all my problems. I'm not a fan of the mushroom so I planned to throw my half of the gnocchi in a bowl with some peas and parmesan cheese. Except I put the plastic container of peas on the burner I'd just taken the gnocchi pot off of. Oops. Ah, the smell of burning plastic! I blame it on the fact that just minutes earlier I'd slammed my right hand in the cabinet door.

Anyway. Not my night...

There's a lot of butter in this recipe. A lot more than I ever cook with. But I used it and I used it all. Adam didn't rave, but he did save the leftovers for later so it couldn't have been awful.