Gnocchi with Brown Butter, Butternut Squash, and Sausage [Turbo Recipe]

Okay, so, I post a lot of food photos on my personal Instagram. Like, probably two of every three photos are food. Because I cook and eat a lot. Surprise, surprise. Some of these even get posted to the Facebook page. You should follow that [/shameless plug].

Anyway, every now and then, I get a message from a friend or fan that asks about a food thing I posted. A lot of the stuff I post tends to be R&D for the site, or things I don't go through the whole rigmarole to get on here. So when someone asks about a recipe, I know it's probably one I should share.

An old friend of mine sent me a message the other night:

So, here we are. I try to be a man of my word, so I'm going to type this bad boy up in a new format: The Turbo Recipe. I'm going to forego the normal schtick, the normal gifs, photos, and whatever, and just crank out a quick instruction on a quick recipe. There's not even a quote at the top. Whoa. If we (you) like it, we (I) can do more of these. Here goes.

So, we're going to make the thing pictured here. It was delicious. And easy. Stupid easy. You're going to need the following:

• 1 package pre-made gnocchi
• 1 bag pre-cubed butternut squash
• 2 or 3 andouille sausage
• 1 stick of butter
• Shallots or onions
• Pepper, sage
• Parmesan cheese

You'll notice that most of these are all pre-made or pre-cut. That's because this looks fancier than it is an can be cooked on a weekday night. Win-win.

Get some water boiling for the gnocchi. These puppies will only have to cook for a few minutes, so don't get these in until later.

Brown the butter. Get a non-black pan, and cook the butter on medium heat, swirling the pan, until it's a nut-brown color, and it smells AMAZING. You'll know what I mean. Pour this and all the solids off, and reserve.

Slice the shallots/onion and sausage. Get your pan hot again, and get those on there with some olive oil, pepper, and sage. As they cook, the sausage will release fat. Good. Get the butternut squash in there, and start sauteeing it in all that flavor. Add the reserved butter.

Lower the heat, and keep sauteeing. Once the butternut squash is getting softer, drop the gnocchi into the water. They'll sink. When they float, they're done. Magic. Drain the gnocchi and save about a quarter cup or so of pasta liquid. Add that to the pan, and deglaze, making the sauce. Toss in the gnocchi, and top with cheese.

Try not to eat it all. But you will.

TL;DR:

• Boil water.
• Brown the butter, reserve.
• Sautee sausage, onion/shallot, and butternut squash with sage/pepper.
• Add butter and keep sauteeing until squash is softer.
• Cook gnocchi, drain. But save some water.
• Add water to pan mixture; stir.
• Add gnocchi. Mix and coat. Cheese.
• Love.

Enjoy!

-AC