Roasted Garlic Gnocchi With Brown Sage Butter, Pork Chops & Steamed Carrots – $10 Or Less Meal

A couple of weeks ago I learned how to make gnocchi from The Cliff House at Pikes Peak Executive Chef, Justin Boudouin. I couldn’t believe how easy AND cheap it was. Easy and cheap are my favorite kinds of recipes to make, not to mention delicious. Gnocchi (potato pillows or potato clouds) is basically flour, egg, salt and butter. Once you get the hang of it, which isn’t hard, get creative and add ingredients you like, which is what I’m doing here. I thought roasted garlic would go great in the mix which I’ll then serve with a brown sage butter. Gnocchi can be served as a main course or as a side. Because I found pork chops on sale, I was able to cook the chops, a big side of gnocchi and steamed carrots for approximately $8.93, for a family of 4. It’s really easy to make the gnocchi if you have a ricer or food mill, which I don’t. Instead, I’m going to push the potatoes through a colander and still get the same texture. The gnocchi doesn’t take long to make and cooks in less than 5 minutes. The hour you see in “total time” includes the potatoes baking in the oven for an hour. Once the gnocchi is made, it takes just a couple of minutes in the brown sage butter to finish up.

We’re serving this with pan cooked pork chops that I simply cooked in a skillet with olive oil, salt and pepper. Carrots were also on sale so I’m steaming them in the microwave to round out the meal.

ROASTED GARLIC GNOCCHI WITH BROWN SAGE BUTTER –

Active Time: 30 minutes

Total Time (including baking potatoes): 1 hour 30 minutes

Serves: 4 for approx. $4.57

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds potatoes (about 4, depending on size)
• 12 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• olive oil
• 2 large egg yolks
• coarse salt
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour (plus more for dusting)
• black pepper
• 1 cup fresh Parmesan cheese, grated or shredded

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash, pat dry and pierce potatoes. Bake 1 hour or until done. While potatoes are baking, place garlic on a sheet of tin foil, drizzle with olive oil, and wrap up. Pop in oven with potatoes and cook for about 45 minutes or until soft. Once garlic is done, let cool enough to handle and squeeze garlic out into a small bowl. Set aside.

Once potatoes are cooked, halve and scoop out flesh into a ricer or food mill. Or press potato flesh through bottom of colander. Transfer 2 slightly packed cups of riced potatoes to a bowl. Stir in egg yolks, roasted garlic and t teaspoon salt. Add the 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of flour. Stir until a stiff dough forms. Knead the dough gently until smooth but slightly sticky. On a floured surface, cut the dough into 4 pieces, rolling each into a “log” or rope. Cut the logs into 3/4 inch pieces.

In a large pot of simmering salted water, cook gnocchi until they rise to the surface and then simmer about 2 minutes longer. Using slotted spoon, add gnocchi to brown sage butter, with a pinch of salt and pepper and cook over high for a minute or two, until nicely seared on the outside. Sprinkle with cheese and serve.

BROWN SAGE BUTTER –

Prep Time: 2 minutes

Cook Time: 8-10 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
• 4 sage leaves

Directions:

Melt butter in a large skillet over high heat. Cook, stirring until butter develops brown flecks. Remove from heat until your gnocchi is almost done. Return skillet to heat, over medium low and add sage and red pepper flakes. Add gnocchi and cook a couple of minutes until lightly browned. Top with cheese and serve.

Pricing…

• $4.57 for gnocchi and butter sauce
• $3.37 for 4 thin cut pork chops
• 99 cents for a pound of steamed carrots