Ingredients

• 500 g potato gnocchishelf-stable or chilled, with potato high on the label
• 300 g chestnut mushroomssliced
• 60 g unsalted butter
• 12 sage leaves
• 40 g Parmesanfinely grated
• 1 garlic clovecrushed
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp fine salt, plus plenty of black pepper

Method

1. 01

   Crisp the mushrooms

   Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat for a minute, add the sliced mushrooms and leave them for 2-3 minutes before stirring. Cook for 6-8 minutes, unsalted, until the water has boiled off and the edges are deeply browned. Season, tip onto a plate and keep warm.

   1 tbsp olive oil · 300 g chestnut mushrooms

   Mushrooms first, alwaysThey need a dry hot pan to themselves. Alongside the gnocchi they steam and everything goes pale.

2. 02

   Fry the gnocchi straight from the packet

   Wipe the pan, set it over medium heat and add a knob of the 60 g butter. Add the 500 g gnocchi in a single layer and fry for 3-4 minutes until golden underneath, then add 3 tbsp water and cover for 2 minutes. The steam cooks them through to pillowy in the middle. Uncover, let the water boil away, and fry for a further 2-3 minutes until crisp on two sides. No pan of boiling water needed.

   60 g unsalted butter · 500 g potato gnocchi

3. 03

   Brown the rest of the butter

   Push the gnocchi to one side, add the remaining butter and the crushed garlic clove, and cook for 3-4 minutes until the milk solids at the base turn hazelnut brown and the kitchen smells nutty. Add the sage leaves for 30-45 seconds until they crisp and stop hissing.

   12 sage leaves

   Thirty seconds from nutty to burntWatch the colour of the solids on the base of the pan, not the clock.

4. 04

   Bring it together

   Return the mushrooms, toss everything through the brown butter, then take the pan off the heat and add the lemon juice. Off the heat is deliberate. The acid stays bright, and it is what stops a pan of butter feeling heavy.

   1 tsp lemon juice

   Lemon off the heatA teaspoon lifts 60 g of butter. Boiled into the sauce it disappears.

5. 05

   Serve

   Divide between warm bowls, grate over the Parmesan and finish with a lot of black pepper and the crisp sage leaves.

   40 g Parmesan