Sage is a beautiful herb to grow in your wine garden. It's so flavorful and pairs well with pork, lamb, and winter squash. I also add it to soups and stuffing. It's a component to my herb paste for lamb and pork. Here, we add it to a quick brown butter that flavors pasta or kabocha squash.
Sage contains cineol, camphor and pinene. These components bring a 'warm' sensation to the flavor of the herb and pair beautifully with wines that have a complementary warm profile- usually derived from the pepper family,white and black pepper, or even paprika. For big full flavor dishes I pair Cabernet Sauvignon, with it's bit of paprika heat. While touring wine country, some friends and I discovered a Cabernet Franc from El Dorado that had beautiful hints of warm pepper from Sage. I couldn't wait to pair this wine with sage brown butter over gnocchi. To add interest to the dish and highlight the herbal aromatics of the wine, I will add a touch of culinary lavender to the gnocchi water while cooking.
Sage Brown Butter and Lavender Gnocchi
Ingredients:
6 T salted butter
4 sage leaves, torn to release essential oils
1 package gnocchi prepared by instructions (I usually make my own, but this is simple and delicious)
1 t culinary lavender
5 T Parmesan cheese
Directions:
1. Begin cooking gnocchi per package instructions. Add culinary lavender to water while cooking.
2. In a small saucepan, melt butter on medium heat until browned on the edges.
3. Add sage leaves
4. Remove from heat
5. Toss over gnocchi and add Parmesan cheese
Serve with Cabernet Franc and enjoy with a warm winter fire
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