Ingredients

for 1 pound of pasta

　　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

　　

Step 1

Melt the butter over medium-high heat in the skillet, and scatter the sage leaves around the pan.

　　

Step 2

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.

　　

Step 3

Ladle in 1 cup of pasta-cooking water. Cook at an active simmer for about 3 minutes, to develop flavor and thicken the sauce.

　　

Step 4

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.

　　

Good With . . .

Step 5

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.

　　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.