Ingredients

for 1 pound of pasta

　　8 to 12 tablespoons (1 to 1 1/2 sticks) butter, to taste!

　　10 whole fresh sage leaves

　　Hot water from the pasta-cooking pot

　　1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste

　　1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano

　　

Step 1

Melt the butter in the pan over medium heat, lay in the sage leaves, and heat until the butter is sizzling gently. Toast the leaves for 1 minute or so.

　　

Step 2

Ladle in 1 cup boiling pasta water; stir the sauce, and simmer for about 2 minutes, reducing liquid by half, before adding pasta. Grind the black pepper directly into the sauce.

　　

Step 3

Keep the sauce hot over very low heat; return to a simmer just before adding pasta.

　　

Step 4

Finish cooked pasta and sauce in the skillet. Off the heat, toss in the cheese just before serving.

　　

Butter and Fresh Basil Sauce

Step 5

Substitute about twenty shredded leaves of basil (1/2 cup packed) for the sage leaves. Long thin dry pastas like capellini or long flat-cut fresh pastas are good with this.

　　

Good With . . .

Step 6

Fresh pastas

　　

Step 7

Gnocchi

　　

Step 8

Gnudi

　　

Step 9

Ravioli

　　

Step 10

Or a box of ziti, if that’s all you have

　　From Lidia's Family table by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich Copyright (c) 2004 by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich Published by Knopf.Lidia Bastianich hosts the hugely popular PBS show, "Lidia's Italian-American kitchen" and owns restaurants in New York City, Kansas City, and Pittsburgh. Also the author of Lidia's Italian Table and Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen, she lives in Douglaston, New York. Jay Jacob's journalism has appeared in many national magazines.From the Trade Paperback edition.