Butter and Parmesan Cheese Sauce
Today’s pasta is a very simple, but delicious one. I know that many of us have been calling some of the pasta sauces comfort food, and that’s what this one was to me.
Marcella says that this sauce has been a favorite way for the Northern Italians to flavor their pasta for generations. She also says that this pasta tests your pasta tossing skills.
I found it very easy to make. Boil pasta. She suggested dried spaghetti, but I had a nice Pici on hand. Cast in bronze dyes so the texture is rougher, meaning the sauce would stick better. While the pasta is cooking, dice up a good quality butter and grate some Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. When the pasta is done, place it in a heated serving dish. Add some of the cheese, and toss until melted and the pasta is coated. Add some of the butter and more cheese, and toss again. Add the remaining cheese, and toss again. And lastly, add the remaining butter and toss until all of the butter has melted.
Serve with additional grated parmesan. I don’t know if it’s authentic, but I also add freshly ground black pepper to mine and it was just perfect! And a glass of white wine, a sunny deck, and my husband as company, and it couldn’t have been any better.
YUM! I bet this would be good with a bit of hot pepper flakes to spice it up a tad or nutmeg. Of course – butter and parmigiano – it doens’t get much better than just that! LOL
This is my kind of Mac & Cheese! 😀
This is what i grew up with when I didn’t want what the grown-ups were having. Simple and always delicious. (and no nasty tomatoes!)
Cindy, guess what, to the basic recipe Victor also adds black pepper. He tosses it moreover with heavy cream. He is a prodigious tosser, and the finished dish looks very thickly coated. We published his version as Victor’s Pasta in Marcella’s Italian Kitchen (Knopf, 1986). Occasionally, if he is in the mood for it, he will grate some nutmeg over it, as Jerry suggests, or allspice. Chili pepper? OH, NO, Jerry! I love chili pepper, but not here. This is a pasta that wears a round, cuddly coat, it doesn’t want spikes of hot pepper flakes poking through it.