Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [94]
2. Add half the butter and another 4 tablespoonfuls of cheese, and toss thoroughly and quickly again.
3. Add the remaining cheese, and turn the pasta over with it three or four times.
4. Add the remaining butter, toss until all the butter has melted, and serve at once with additional cheese at the table.
Butter and Sage Sauce
IN ITALY, this sauce is called burro oro e salvia, “golden butter and sage,” because to become fully impregnated with the penetrating sage fragrance, the butter must be heated until it becomes colored a rich gold.
For 4 to 6 servings
4 to 5 tablespoons choicest quality butter
6 to 8 whole sage leaves, preferably fresh
1 pound pasta
Freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese for the table
Recommended pasta Butter and sage works best with homemade pasta, either a noodle cut such as fettuccine, or stuffed pasta, such as Tortelli Stuffed with Parsley and Ricotta. It would also be very good with Potato Gnocchi.
Put the butter in a small skillet and turn on the heat to medium. When the butter foam subsides, and the butter’s color is a tawny gold but not yet brown, add the sage leaves. Cook for a few seconds, turning the sage leaves over once, then pour the contents of the pan over cooked, drained pasta. Toss thoroughly, and serve immediately with grated Parmesan on the side.
Cream and Butter Sauce
THIS IS THE SAUCE that has become known to diners throughout the world as all’Alfredo, after the Roman restaurateur who popularized it. If a fat, fresh white truffle should come your way, one of the best uses for it is to shave it over pasta tossed with Alfredo’s sauce.
For 4 to 6 servings
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons choicest quality butter
1¼ pounds homemade fettuccine, OR tortellini, OR green tortellini
⅔ cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, plus additional cheese at the table
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
Whole nutmeg
Recommended pasta No other sauce is a better vehicle for the virtues of homemade pasta, and in particular for fettuccine. It is also quite blissful with tortellini.
1. Choose any flameproof ware suitable for tossing and serving the pasta in later. Put in ⅔ cup of the heavy cream and all the butter, turn on the heat to medium, and cook for less than a minute, just until the cream and butter have thickened. Turn off the heat.
2. Cook the pasta, draining it while it is still very firm and even slightly underdone, a degree or so firmer than al dente. Freshly made fettuccine will take just seconds.
3. Transfer the drained pasta to the pan containing the butter and cream, turn on the heat to low, and toss the pasta thoroughly, bringing it up and around from the bottom, coating all the strands with the cream and butter sauce.
4. Add the remaining ⅓ cup of cream, the ⅔ cup of grated Parmesan, a pinch of salt, a few grindings of pepper, and a very tiny grating—less than ⅛ teaspoon—of nutmeg. Toss again briefly until the fettuccine are well coated. Taste and correct for salt and serve immediately from the pan, with additional grated Parmesan on the side.
Gorgonzola Sauce
THE ONLY COMPLICATION attendant on this sauce is finding the right gorgonzola. If you have a good, conscientious cheese dealer, ask to be notified when a fresh wheel of gorgonzola arrives from Italy. Once cut, the cheese does not improve, it becomes dry, crumbly, and yellowish. When it is at its peak, it is a warm white color, creamily soft and even runny.
Do not use gorgonzola straight out of the refrigerator, because the cold stunts its flavor and aroma. If you are going to use it the same day you’ve bought it, do not refrigerate it at all. If you have had it a day or two, take it out of the refrigerator at least 6 hours before using it.
For 6 servings
¼ pound gorgonzola (see prefatory remarks above), kept at room temperature for 6 hours
⅓ cup milk
3 tablespoons butter
Salt
½ cup heavy whipping cream
1¼ pounds pasta
⅓ cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano