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The Story
The worst kept secret of the pasta world is that for all of the incredible, complex, layered sauces out there, there is no pasta that can’t be enjoyed with just a chunk of butter and a crack of pepper. Whenever we got home especially late after school, and everyone was exhausted, it was hard to hide our delight at the suggestion of plain old pasta with butter. I’m talking serious lazy food here: just a lump of cold butter stirred through warm pasta until it melted. Maybe a handful of grated cheese on top, and some pepper if we were in a gourmet kind of mood. And it was the best.
I guess the truth of it is that a good pasta sauce is always simple. Even if there are a heap of ingredients that go into it, the success of the sauce is in how it complements but never overshadows the pasta. It’s why we pair flavourful ravioli with a light tomato sauce, or why we give our paccheri extra bite and structure if we’re going to pack them with a hearty ragu. And there’s nothing simpler than butter.
The Sauce
Tempting though it is for my own amusement, I’m not going to give you a recipe that requires one ingredient and no cooking. Instead, it needs 3 ingredients, and 3 minutes in a pan. We first made this to go with our red dragonfruit tortelli on Mother’s Day, and it was the perfect match. Like, the whole dish was extraordinarily delicious, even if I do say so myself. To pair with the fruitiness of the lemon and dragonfruit, but also offset some of the sweetness, we chose a simple herb pairing of lemon thyme and pink peppercorns. The thyme was perfect in lifting the richness of the brown butter, and the pink peppercorns? Just all round damn fine. They have a tangy heat, and a floral tone, and are my current favourite ingredient.
You can also substitute the thyme and pink peppercorns for all kinds of other excellent things, like rosemary, sage, oregano. You’re still going to have a good time, just maybe not as good a thyme as you would with pink peppercorns.
So… Brown butter? It’s awesome. If you’ve never done it, you’re missing out on a great way to make other people who haven’t done it think that you’re better than you are in the kitchen. And also adding some instant nutty depth of flavour to your dish, etc.
Essentially, butter is mostly fat (around 80%), sitting in water, with a small 1-2% of milk protein (whey and casein). Teeny bit of lactose too that kicks off the whole browning process. Those proteins have a lower smoke point than the fats, and they’re what you’re trying to brown, but they’re staying pasty as long as the fats are bobbing around chilling in all that water. So when you heat your butter, you’re first evaporating the water; once this is gone the fats can heat up and start to brown the proteins. Brown butter. Science.
I brown my butter on medium-high heat, stirring constantly. You’ll see it bubble, then foam, and once that white foam’s gone the rate of browning will really pick up. So you’ll want to throw in your other ingredients while there’s still white stuff floating around (for a little more control over how they’re cooked), and keep a close eye on it from there. There’s no wrong degree of browning until you’ve suddenly burnt it, so if you’re not sure just keep tasting, and be ready to pour it out of the pan when it’s done, otherwise it’ll continue to cook. And don’t strain out those brown specks! They’re half of the flavour!
If you want to jar it up and fridge it, this tasty thing will resolidify and can be melted again in future. But if you’re ready to eat, reintroduce it to your now-cooled pan, warm it back up slightly, and toss your pasta in. Or if you want to do it old-school, stir it straight into a bowl of hot pasta!
Because it’s Mother’s Day, we decided to finish it off with some edible flowers. Little Al helped build this planter and then immediately assumed command of it.
This was a sauce dreamed up to specifically complement our red dragonfruit tortelli, and it was amazing; check it out!
That said, it’s also very versatile, so play around with it, change up the herbs, and try it with all kinds of pasta.
Best cooking wishes, and buon appetito,
– Al & Al.
Equipment
- Frypan
Ingredients
- 150 g unsalted butter
- 2 tsp pink peppercorns
- 4-5 large sprigs lemon thyme (reserve any flowers for garnish)
- handful of edible flowers optional, for garnish
Instructions
- Melt the butter over medium-high heat for 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly. You’ll see it bubble and foam as the butter begins to brown.
- As butter gets hotter and the foam starts to lessen, add in the pink peppercorns and lemon thyme, and continue to stir.
- Once the foam has disappeared, the rate of browning will increase rapidly. Keep a close eye on it, tasting as the colour deepens, until it reaches your desired flavour.
- Pour the sauce out of the pan immediately to prevent it cooking further, and either store it for future use or stir it through freshly cooked pasta.
- As an serving option, garnish with fresh edible flowers and any lemon thyme flowers that you reserved earlier.
