Ravioli with Sage Brown Butter

Making Brown Butter

Brown butter is amazing! Whether you use it in sauces, cookies, or just plain drizzled on pasta or fresh veggies such as zucchini or an acorn squash, it has a wonderful sweet, nutty flavor. Making brown butter is really easy. Slice pats of butter and place in a skillet (the pats will brown more evenly than if you added a stick of butter). bring the butter to its melting point then increase heat slightly- the melted butter will start to foam. Keep stirring with a wooden spoon as it foams. In a few minutes the butter will turn brown. Keep a careful eye on it to note the change in color. If you cook it too long it will burn, although the French like to use a browner version of this called beurre noir. If you have bits of "brown butter crumbs" on the bottom of the pan, that's OK- scrape them up and use them- they add a nice texture to the nutty brown butter.

Ravioli with Sage Brown Butter

One of the ways I like to use brown butter for a quick and easy meal is on pasta. This is also the time of year when I have a lot of fresh sage in my garden. I picked about 5 leaves of fresh sage and chopped them up. Using half a stick of butter (I prefer the organic brand of Kate's natural butter)- make your brown butter. Add the chopped sage when the butter starts to foam and it will infuse a sage flavor as the brown butter develops. For a quick meal, I buy frozen whole wheat ricotta stuffed ravioli (of course if you are a purist, you will make your own ravioli).

Cook the ravioli according to package directions. I also like to cook fresh spinach from my garden which I drain, toss with a little of the brown butter, and use as a bed for the ravioli. Drizzle the brown sage butter over the cooked ravioli (including the brown butter bits on the bottom of the pan). The brown butter adds a wonderful nutty flavor, brought up a notch with the sage. Easy and quick to make and so delicious!