Mark Bittman's Pasta with Browned Butter, Sage and Parmesan

This week at I Heart Cooking Clubs our theme is "Damn That's Sexy!" -- finding our own interpretation of sexy food through the recipes of Mark Bittman. I find Bittman's Pasta with Butter, Sage and Parmesan to be a sexy dish. It's composed of a few, simple, quality ingredients--that's sexy. It's pasta--a sexy food, slightly messy and perfect for slurping and twirling, also sexy. Butter is very sexy, especially when browned so that the rich, nuttiness comes out. I find fresh sage to be a sexy herb--rich, woodsy, slightly minty, especially sexy when it's just gathered from the herb garden and crisped up in all that sexy butter. ;-) Fluffy clouds of Parmigiano-Reggiano, zested with a microplane...yeah that's pretty sexy too.

The fact that you can have this delicious dish on the table in basically just the time it takes to boil water and cook the pasta, now Damn, That's Sexy!

Pasta with Browned Butter, Sage and Parmesan

"How to Cook Everything" by Mark Bittman

"A classic when made with brown butter, almost as good with olive oil."

1 lb long pasta like spaghetti or linguine, or other pasta

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese or more to taste

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Cook the pasta until tender but not mushy; drain it, reserving some of the cooking water.

Heat 4 or more tablespoons butter with 20 or 30 fresh sage leaves over medium heat for about 3 minutes; the butter should brown and the sage sizzle. Toss cooked pasta with the butter, sage, and Parmesan, thinning the sauce with pasta cooking liquid if necessary. Add sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Notes/Results: Luscious and sexy! Brown butter and sage is a perfect flavor combination, and the cheese only makes it better. With simple dishes like this, you want to use the best quality ingredients possible. I used my favorite fresh tagliatelle pasta, creamy organic butter, freshly picked sage, and of course the Parmigiano-Reggiano. It all adds up to a big bowl of deliciousness. Serve with a simple salad, a glass or your favorite wine, and something chocolate for dessert for a sexy dinner. I will make this again.

You can see what food the other IHCC participants found sexy this week by going to the post (here) and following the links.

Also since this sexy pasta dish is made with the goodness of real foods, I am linking it to the Two for Tuesdays Blog Hop co-hosted by my friend girlichef and some other terrific bloggers.

And of course since it's yummy pasta, I am also sending it to Ruth's weekly Presto Pasta Nights, hosted this week by Nic from Lemon and Cheese.


Have a wonderful week!