We’ve been cooking up a lot of gnocchi lately. Once we discovered that you could buy gnocchi at the grocery store in the pasta aisle, it got a lot easier to enjoy and create recipes—versus making homemade potato gnocchi (although that is fun on occasion!). The truth is sometimes, just like with pasta, the simplest preparations of gnocchi really hit the spot—think cacio e pepe or spaghetti with garlic and oil. This dish hits the mark somewhere in between the two. It’s one of those back of the shelf recipes you’ll basically memorize after making it a few times and can prepare whenever you want a dish that’s ultra-comforting.

Some of our recipes cook the gnocchi directly in the skillet, but for this one, we took advantage of another technique: crisping the gnocchi in the pan. Here’s how to do it: Boil the gnocchi first until it’s fully cooked. Then get your skillet going. Brown the gnocchi in the hot skillet with both butter and oil—the butter adds buttery toasted notes to the dish, while the oil helps keep the butter from browning too fast. Golden gnocchi means more flavor! The outsides of the gnocchi will crisp a bit while the centers stay perfectly creamy and al dente.

Once the gnocchi is golden, add more butter and cook until browned, then the garlic and red pepper flakes, stirring until fragrant and light golden. Finish the whole dish off with generous sprinkles of Parmesan, basil, and lemon juice. Serve this dish straight from the skillet and add on a side salad or another vegetable if you’re looking for something green.