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

[racerxmachina.livejournal.com]

ah nub nooooo! ♥

This looks fantastic, and would be something to serve as a side or a main dish (with cheese) to a vegetarian, but not in that apologetic "you don't eat meat and this was the best I could think of" way.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It was a main dish each time I had it in restaurants. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. :-)

Mmmmmm

[ladycelia.livejournal.com]

Pasta with sage and butter is sooooo very tasty!

[inflectionpoint.livejournal.com]

Sounds gooooood.

Makes me want to grow me some sage, so I could whip this up whenever.

I love sage. Like a unnatural, excessive, probably illegal love. I never thought of sage on pasta tho. Wow. Must. Try. Soon.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Someone with an excessive and illegal love might know this: was I supposed to mince up the stems of the leaves too, or just the flat leaf part?

Re: Mmmmmm

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I had no idea it was so simple. I will definitely be eating this again... well, probably even after this batch is gone. :-)

[gdmusumeci.livejournal.com]

This is completely different from how I make this dish. :)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

*perk* Ooo, care to share how you make it?

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

That sounds nummy. Hm, makes market notes...

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

And yet you haven't sent any of it my way. Harumph! ;-)

[samtosha.livejournal.com]

MMMMMMMM
Sterling winery is one of my very favorite places. I have many fond memories of my visits there. Great recipe!

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

Ooo, looks tasty! I'm always looking for new ways to serve pasta, as I serve pasta, well, um, rather a lot.

[redgrrl.livejournal.com]

Ceej--

Please come over and make that for me! :)

I used to grow sage, but the plant got so huge, I couldn't keep up with it, and I think after a few years the leaves start to get a little woody.

You don't have the remove the stems, and you measure 2 T *after* you mince the sage. So, 2 T of minced sage. Guessing is also acceptable in cooking (but not in baking, which is one reason I don't bake:).

[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]

Food Transfer Protocol is broken on my machine!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I really like that place, except for the policy of charging the designated driver the same price as anybody else. But it's beautiful, and some of my favorite wines come from there.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Me, I kind of want to cut back on the empty carbs, but I couldn't resist trying this recipe. Maybe there's a kind of pasta somewhere that isn't quite so nutritionally null...

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Definitely! Or next time you're here!

Thanks for the info. The recipe wasn't very clear about either of those bits. Obviously I am Not A Cook. :) (But I love baking. Tell ya what: you cook, I'll bake, and we'll make a great team!)

[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?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It was easy enough even for me! Two thumbs up.

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

Carbs are not empty, they're the building block of good nutrition! (Ok, I'm a carb hound. But still. Don't mess with my carbs).

You can get whole wheat pasta that has more fiber and slightly more iron, etc. And I assume the 'flavored' pastas, like spinach linguini, if they're noodles made with actual spinach, will have the nutritional benefits of whatever vegetable they're flavored with.

[layer.livejournal.com]

yay! i'm totally going to try this. too bad both my sage plants recently succumbed to the unaccustomed heat and sun that has been abusing my yard. guess i better pick up a few new ones...

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

They're calories without vitamins! They're the building block of diabetes! Okay, I'm probably way overcautious about this because of my family history. And I really do love a good baguette way more than I should.

I need to look for whole grain pasta. One good thing about carbs is that in many forms, they simply don't go bad as quickly as protein-dominant and fat-dominant foods do.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

How much sun and heat do you usually get? I always thought a lot of herbs were basically okay with that if they got a lot to drink, but even if that vague thought is correct I'm sure there's got to be a limit.