A dish I was tasked with making when I was working in my first restaurant job at The Dorchester Hotel. Needless to say, the skill of making gnocchi has stayed with me and they often feature on the menus I write. The key is to not overwork the potatoes when mashing: you need it to be dry and floury to give you the best chance of success. Don’t be disheartened even if you fail: there is a lesson in that.
Don’t burn the sage: burn the butter, add the sage and the aromas will create a wonderful sense of calm in your home.
When asked my favorite way to serve slicer tomatoes, I always reply, “with brown butter, black pepper, and salt.” There is something about the nuttiness of brown butter that takes peak-season tomatoes to a whole new level. Our favorite tomatoes to serve this way are classified as brown tomatoes, which tend to have a meatier, more robust, umami-forward taste than green, red, or orange types. A seed called Paul Robeson has been a favorite to plant since our first year, and when combined with a decadent drizzle of brown butter, it takes on a mystical, toasty flavor. To dress this dish up, apply nothing more than a few briny capers, delicate slivers of shaved sweet onion, a scattering of earthy chanterelle mushrooms, or petite leaves of fresh basil.
Adapted from A New Way to Cook by Sally Schneider (Artisan, 2001). Copyright 2001 by Sally Schneider..