Pasta with Butter and Sage

[cjsmith]

To my bemusement, every so often wine randomly appears with my name on it. This shipment's frou-frou newsletter included a recipe for something I have eaten three times in my life, all of them in Italy, all of them with extreme gastronomic bliss.

Naturally I misread the recipe. But such is the power of the scrumptiousness of sage that what I actually did came out very well anyway.

Here I present CJ's Misreading of Sterling Vineyards' Version of Pasta with Butter and Sage.




Pasta for 6 people
1/2 cup butter
2 tablespoons fresh sage leaves
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
ground black pepper

I used a pound of pasta, and I think it might have been too much for the amount of sauce I got.

I used unsalted baking butter, and there's no point; this recipe wants a touch of salt anyway.

I couldn't fit a sage leaf in a tablespoon so I took a wild guess.

The original recipe did not call for powders of any kind. Oops. It didn't even call for onion; it wanted shallots. I don't know how my brain made that leap. Well, this is the CJ Rendition.

Slice or mince the sage.



Are you supposed to use the stems too? I cut those off before mincing the leaves. Man did the kitchen start to smell good at this point.


Melt butter over medium heat, and when it is bubbling, add the sage, garlic, and onion powders. Remove from heat and keep warm for at least five minutes to infuse with the savory flavors.




Make pasta according to instructions; drain. In a bowl, toss with the sage butter and most of the grated cheese.




Transfer to individual plates and sprinkle with freshly ground pepper and the rest of the cheese.



Unlike the version I first had in a lovely restaurant in Florence, this one really does seem to want the cheese and the pepper. Fresh garlic and shallots might help, but probably still won't duplicate that version. That's fine though. I ate two helpings as it is.

I suggest insalata caprese with it.


Verdict: OM NOM NOM NOM

Comments

[jtidwell.livejournal.com]

You know what else sauteed sage is good with? Canned cannellini beans! And canned diced tomatoes!

This is our quick Tuscan beans recipe. Cut up and saute more sage than in your recipe (maybe four tablespoons?), and then dump a 16-oz can of diced tomatoes in the pan. Let it bubble for five to ten minutes. Then drain two 16-oz cans of white cannellini beans and dump them in the pot. Stir well and cook for five more minutes.

This is even better if you saute some real garlic with the sage -- the jarred minced stuff is just fine -- and use olive oil instead of butter. Mmmmmmm!

[jtidwell.livejournal.com]

...and don't forget the salt! Anything with beans will need salt, and plenty of it (at least a teaspoon). This recipe definitely doesn't require cheese. But it goes well with steak, incidentally.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Sounds delicious! I never thought of what I was doing as "sauteed sage" but that makes lots of sense the moment you say it.

OK, since I am Not A Cook, I have questions. :)

- Do canned beans require the boil-for-a-while-and-then-rinse-well step that helps dried ones become less... aroma-producing?

- When I first had the pasta-with-sage thingy, some of the sage leaves were almost crispy -- they had a kind of a "candied" texture to them, instead of just being limp and green. Is this something that happens when you saute' sage without drowning it in butter like I did?

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

Canned beans: nope, don't boil or soak. Do, however, rinse them. This lessens the "magical fruit" effect, and also gets rid of a lot of the salt in canned beans. :)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[jtidwell.livejournal.com]

Depends on the brand of beans, I'm guessing. :-) Some are saltier than others. We tend to use the kinds that don't have a lot, so I often end up adding it back in to the recipe. At least I can control it!

I've been using more dried beans lately, though, which are little black holes for salt.

CJ, I have no idea how to make sauteed sage become crispy. I know what you're talking about, though!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

And dried lentils are little black holes for curry powder and onion and ginger and pepper! :-) :-)