Spinach Gnudi in Brown Butter Sage Sauce

A few weeks back, my husband and I took an Italian cooking class in downtown Seattle. It was a lot of fun and, oh boy did we eat hearty! But out of all the food we made, there was one dish that stood out miles above the rest: gnudi. Pronounced like nudey (which of course lead to many of inappropriate jokes during class), this dish is a deconstructed ravioli. Prepared like a dumpling, gnudi takes the filling of a ravioli and creates a whole new unique dish I had never had before. Also, for the first time ever, I tried brown butter sage sauce. Seriously...[insert George Takei "oh my!" here]..whoever invented brown butter sage sauce is a freak'n genius! With hot dumplings swimming in crispy sage and golden savory butter, it's easy to see why this dish is one of my new favorites!

Spinach Gnudi in Brown Butter Sage Sauce

Ingredients for Gnudi:
2 cups fresh spinach leaves, stems removed
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 eggs
flour

Ingredients for Brown Butter Sage Sauce:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sage, stems removed

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Take your spinach and steam it for only a couple minutes. After you steam your spinach, immediately transfer spinach into a bowl of ice water. Once the spinach has cooled down (5ish minutes), drain all the water out (squeeze the spinach to thoroughly drain out all the water) and chop it into little pieces. Place spinach into a medium sized bowl.

Get a large pot of salt water boiling. (This will be used to cook the gnudi.)

Next, add ricotta and eggs to the chopped spinach. When everything is well mixed, start adding flour, 2 tablespoons at a time, until your mixture is thicker but still soft. You're not looking to make a firm dough. You are aiming for more of a sticky but not runny mixture (it only takes roughly about 1/4 cup of flour). Once you get the preferred texture, start dropping spoonfuls (about a tablespoon) of the mixture into your boiling salt water. Continue to do this until all the mixture is gone. As you work, you will notice the gnudi starting to float to the surface of the water. Once the last drop of gnudi has floated to the surface, continue to boil the gnudi for another 10 minutes. When done boiling, scoop out the gnudi with a slotted spoon (be careful because they are delicate!) and transfer to a plate.

While you are cooking the gnudi, start your brown butter sage sauce. Simply melt the butter in a sauce pan on medium-high heat. When melted, add all the sage leaves. Stir frequently to avoid burning. The sage leaves will be soft for awhile. But once the leaves are crispy, remove the sauce from the heat. When you are making this sauce, you really need to keep an eye on it. There isn't an exact cooking time so you have to watch for the visual cues of the sage being crispy and the butter looking a nice golden brown color.

Once your sauce is done, pour it over the gnudi on the plate. Sprinkle freshly grated Parmesan cheese over the gnudi. Serve hot.