Brown Butter Sage Sauce

Brown butter and sage are a classic couple that will never steer you wrong. Whether you use the sauce to dress a bowl of pasta or add another dimension to a simple risotto, it’s instant success with very little effort!

The process of browning butter consists of gently heating it in a skillet until the water evaporates and the milk solids begin to brown, at which point it acquires a wonderful flavor complexity and a pleasant toasty note that makes it a real treat. You’ll know the butter’s ready when it’s goes from a lemony yellow to golden tan to, finally, the color of toasted hazelnuts.

Use this brown butter sage sauce on your favorite pasta, tortellini, ravioli, gnocchi, or risotto. Here’s how to make it.

• It’s a simple two-ingredient sauce. The sage imparts a deeply satisfying, musty, herbal note to the nutty brown butter, adding depth (plus a pleasant crispness) to a sauce that’s perfect in its two-ingredient simplicity.
• It’s the perfect sauce for pasta and risotto. Try it on potato gnocchi, filled pastas like ravioli or agnolotti, or tossed with fresh tagliolini or tagliatelle. Stir it in risotto right before serving.

• Unsalted butter: Use unsalted butter so that you can control the amount of salt in the sauce.
• Fresh sage leaves: You can leave the sage leaves whole or chop them up to enhance their presence in the final dish. 

1. Make the brown butter. Cut the unsalted butter into 8 pieces. Place in a medium light-colored frying pan over medium heat. Swirl the pan occasionally to be sure the butter is cooking evenly. Continue to cook, swirling the pan occasionally, until the color goes from lemony-yellow to golden-tan to, finally, a toasty-brown that’s the color of toasted hazelnuts.
2. Fry the sage. Add the sage leaves to the pan and cook until they crisp up, which will take a few seconds. Immediately scrape the mixture into a heatproof bowl. Let cool slightly, then taste and season with kosher salt as needed.

• Salted butter variation: You can use half salted butter if you like your sauce to be less sweet.

The cooled sauce can be refrigerated a few days, or frozen in ice cubes trays for up to 2 months. Let frozen cubes sit out until room temperature before using.

• Gnocchi: A few dishes in which brown butter and sage go perfectly are potato gnocchi or sweet potato gnocchi. Add nutmeg and black pepper to the sauce, then finish off the dish with grated Parmesan and crushed toasted walnuts.
• Filled pasta: It’s also great with filled pasta like pumpkin ravioli or agnolotti.
• Fresh pasta: Toss it with fresh pasta like tagliolini or tagliatelle.
• Risotto: Stir it into risotto right before serving.