Tuesday, September 7, 2010

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!

25 comments:

  1. It's 9.45 in the morning and I now know what I am having for dinner! Yum! Our sage bush has gone nuts and I still have some cultured butter... nom nom nom.

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  2. Oh my, that IS sexy!
    I love pasta, and what a great use of sage. My sage is huge this year... and I haven't used it once!
    I'm putting this on the list.

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  3. Haha I totally love this post. It must be all the sexiness.

    Pasta totally does it for me as well. Oh and browned butter...if that doesn't seduce you, i don't know what will!

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  4. That exceeds sexy! Seriously, you almost changed my mind on what I was going to make this week...just to spend one sexy meal with this! Brown butter and sage is a super sexy pair. mmmmm....lost in ecstasy ;) Thanks for sharing it w/ t4t, too!

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  5. Simple pastas like this are my absolute favorite. It really brings out the flavor of everything. This is one I definitely need to try.

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  6. I agree...sexy! Especially brown butter. It's much sexier that way. I think I need to fan myself a little after seeing this.

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  7. mmmmm....I TOTALLY agree with you! Butter, pasta, sage, parm...totally sexy!

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  8. Oooh this looks good! I have sage ready to harvest, so this recipe is going on the list of upcoming meals.

    -Brenda

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  9. Fresh sage in a butter jacuzzi... now, that's sexy!

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  10. I need to find a cooking club! Pasta is always sexy - although I do not think anybody can look attractive while eating it. I love the simplicity of this recipe. I will have to try it.

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  11. Love Mark Bittman, love the recipe and love your take on the whole sexy dish thing. Thanks for sharing with Presto Pasta Nights.

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  12. I've made this before and I agree...sexy!

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  13. This is one seductive little devil of a recipe :) Definitely a recipe that I would like to twirl around on my fork - LOL!

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  14. Deb, to me anything creamy and aromatic is damned sexy for sure! I always LOVE bittman! Thanks for sharing on the two for tuesday recipe blog hop! :) Alex@amoderatelife

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  15. Mmm, nummers! Thanks for sharing at Two for Tuesday. I'm not a pasta person, but I sure would love to see a plate full of butternut squash swimming in that dreamy combo :)

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  16. Sexy for sure! Twirling, sucking, licking - yup Sexy!!!! I have just recently become a Bittman fan - and this recipe is one reason why! Thanks for a sexy link up to Two for Tues.

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  17. Pasta, brown butter, sage, and Parmesan cheese - four of my favorite things all in one dish. Perfect!

    Reminds me of the Mizithra Cheese spaghetti dish at The Old Spaghetti Factory. Except this one uses cheese you can find in most grocery stores.

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  18. Oh yes, browned butter is the way to go. There will be a post or two with different recipes coming soon. Once you use brown butter once, you want to find a million other ways to use it.

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  19. Yummy - I love the idea of this dish.

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  20. Anything this simple with good ingredients is definietly sexy. Thank you for adding this to this weeks Presto Pasta Nights

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  21. That looks so so good! But how can you miss with browned butter and sage.

    Thank you for the reminder to use our sage!! We love how the wild flavour of sage gets softened by the butter.

    Beautiful photographs, by the way.

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  22. Sage and butter are almost sinful together! Sinfully sexy! My sage is overgrown and this is calling my name.

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  23. Girlfriend - you definitely know sexy! This dish has soooo got it goin' on. Love it.
    Sue

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  24. I love browned butter on pasta. Very sexy.

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