BUTTER, FRESH SAGE, AND WALNUT SAUCE

Butter, Fresh Sage, and Walnut Sauce image

Yield for 1 pound of pasta

Number Of Ingredients 5

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, or more to taste!
6 fresh sage leaves
1 cup chopped walnuts, 1/8- to-1/4-inch bits
Hot water from pasta-cooking pot
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano

Steps:

Melt the butter over medium-high heat in the skillet, and scatter the sage leaves around the pan.
When the butter begins to sizzle, drop the chopped walnuts in a hot spot. Toast them, stirring them in the butter for a minute or so, until they start to turn light brown.
Ladle in 1 cup of pasta-cooking water. Cook at an active simmer for about 3 minutes, to develop flavor and thicken the sauce.
Finish sauce with cooked pasta, tossing and cooking together over low heat (for details, see page 105). Off the heat, toss pasta with the freshly grated cheese just before serving.
My favorite-fresh Buckwheat Pasta with Walnuts (page 173), cut in lacce (shoestrings). Also, whole-wheat, flaxseed, cornmeal, and barley pasta. Yes, and dry spaghetti is good when no fresh pasta is around.