I’m facing a bit of a conundrum with this newsletter.
This month, a couple larger publications shared my essay on New York bagels. As a result, there’s been a jump in subscribers to Well Worn (if you’re new here, welcome).
The interest in my writing has been both gratifying and humbling. Even more humbling is the fact that about 25% of you pay to subscribe. It baffles me that you’re coughing up real American dollars to listen to me rant about artichokes, but I suppose I shouldn’t question it.
As Well Worn grows, however, I’m increasingly aware of its shortcomings. Over the past fifteen months I’ve published an essay, on average, about once every three weeks. The more of you subscribe (and the more of you pay to subscribe), the guiltier I feel about how little content I send you to read.
That’s why, starting today, I’m going to publish the occasional recipe, in addition to my longer-form thoughts about food. These recipes will be simple—around five ingredients per dish, with minimal technique required—in the hopes that you’ll go beyond reading and actually give them a try, regardless of your cooking experience.
If you’re new to the kitchen, don’t worry. I’ve chosen dishes that are forgiving—you can make a couple mistakes and they’ll still turn out well. And if you really mess up, and your guests, family, loved ones, etc. start to complain, take a page from my book and ply them with a second bottle of wine. That should shut them right up.
We’ll begin with one of my favorite autumn pasta dishes: bucatini with sage, brown butter, and Parmigiano.
When I worked on a vineyard in Tuscany we made lunch together every day. About once a week, someone would put pasta on the stove to boil, venture out into the nearby copse, and come back with a handful of wild sage, which went into a pan with lots of butter. the process is simple: crisp the sage, brown the butter, add a splash of pasta water. Follow up with a heap of Parmigiano Reggiano and a robust whisking. Toss the pasta in the resulting sauce, add freshly cracked black pepper, and serve. The dish takes about twenty minutes, from cold stove to table.
I would love to tell you that you can’t recreate this dish here in the States; that the supermarket sage you have access to is inferior; that real cooking only happens in the Tuscan hills, using foraged ingredients, and that my experience with said ingredients makes me better than you.
Sadly, none of that is true. Store-bought sage works just as well. It’s not quite as intense as the wild stuff, but you can compensate by adding more of it. I’ve made the necessary adjustments in the recipe below. Just be sure you use fresh, whole sage leaves. Dried sage won’t cut it here.
Bucatini with Sage, Brown Butter, and Parmigiano
Serves: 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Total time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
8 oz bucatini (or your pasta of choice)
8 oz Parmigiano Reggiano, grated fine
6 tbsp butter
~15 fresh whole sage leaves
Freshly cracked black pepper
Kosher salt
Steps:
Set a large pot of water to boil. Add a generous amount of salt, until the water tastes like the sea.
While the water boils, add the butter to a pan over medium heat. Once the butter melts, add the sage leaves, spreading them in a single layer. This helps them get crisp.
Set a paper towel on the counter next to the stove. Fry the sage leaves in the butter until they darken slightly, about 2 minutes. Remove the leaves to the paper towel to cool.
Continue to cook the butter over medium heat. It should bubble, then foam, then begin to change color. When you start to see little brown specks at the bottom of the pan, turn off the heat and move the pan to a cool burner.
The water should be boiling about now. Add the pasta and boil it until it’s al dente (cooked but slightly firm), probably about two minutes short of the package instructions.
While the pasta cooks, take a half cup of pasta water and add it to the browned butter. Stir vigorously (or better yet, whisk) to incorporate.
Gradually add grated Parmigiano, a handful at a time, while stirring (or whisking) vigorously and continuously. The sauce should come together and turn creamy. If it’s too thick, whisk in more pasta water. If it’s too thin, whisk in more Parmigiano.
Add sage leaves and a generous amount of freshly cracked black pepper.
Once the pasta is cooked, add it to the cream sauce and toss until the pasta is well-coated. Taste for salt and adjust if necessary. Serve immediately.