Took a run at some Brown Butter Gnocchi for the first time.
Did it with guanciale. I've heard it's better than pancetta, but I've never cooked with it before. It was a better texture and overall just felt like a better cut of meat (and fat), but it was a lot saltier. It's not super easy to find so I just took whatever they had at my local Italian grocer, but I wonder if with a little more research, I could find some that wasn't cured so heavily in salt. Anyway, I figured it out pretty quickly in the process, so I just adjusted accordingly and kept my salt levels low throughout everything else.
Each piece was about a half pound and I only used one as I didn't want to overpower it with too much.
Cubed the guanciale and prepped about half an onion, some garlic and some mushrooms.
In one pan on low heat, melted about a stick and a half of butter and infused it with some garlic cloves and fresh basil. I think you're supposed to use sage leaves here, but I only had basil so I went with it, just something to brighten it up a little.
In a separate pan, sauteed guanciale, onions, mushrooms and garlic.
After dropping the gnocchi in boiling water for about 3 minutes, strained and added to brown butter after removing basil and garlic cloves.
Bring it up to medium heat, add the meat and shrooms and let it all cook together. I also hit it with a squirt of lemon here which was a much needed pop of acidity. This is a really rich, rustic dish and upon tasting, it needed to be brightened up a little. The squirt of lemon was the perfect balance.
Serve with a little fresh basil and of course...fresh grated parmigiano reggiano.