Brown butter pappardelle, sage, ricotta salata

A bowl of brown butter pappardelle with sage and ricotta salata.

Serves 4

Ingredients

3 L water
45 g kosher salt
60 g (4 T) butter. I used salted, but it doesn't really matter
30 g sage leaves
450 g (1 lb) fresh pasta. I used pappardelle in the image above, but any long noodle would be fine here.
60 g ricotta salata cheese, finely grated
Finishing salt, to taste

Recipe

3 L water
45 g kosher salt

Add the water and kosher salt to a pot large enough to cook pasta, and bring to a boil.

60 g butter
30 g sage leaves

Add the butter to a large dutch oven and melt over medium heat. Add the sage leaves. Fry until the butter is about 3 minutes away from being fully brown. It should smell nutty and sagey and be a medium to medium-dark brown color. Carefully remove a dozen of the largest sage leaves and reserve. I use long tweezers to do this.

450 g (1 lb) fresh pappardelle

Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook for 3 minutes.

60 g ricotta salata cheese, finely grated
Finishing salt, to taste
600mL (2.5 cups) pasta water

Transfer the pasta to the butter-sage sauce. Add the cheese. Add the pasta water to the pasta, increase heat to high, and cook, stirring constantly, for 3-5 minutes. The goal here is to emulsify the water and butter. The cheese will not melt, but that's expected.

Divide among four bowls and serve. Top each of the bowls with 3 fried sage leaves.