Buttered Noodles

Being in a cross-cultural marriage has allowed me and my husband to open each other’s minds and palates to strange and exotic foods. For me, that’s buttered noodles. I grew up eating strong-flavored dishes, like stir-fries and curries, so I didn’t get it when he waxed nostalgic about plain noodles seasoned with nothing but butter and Parmesan cheese (although, let’s be real, it was the ‘80s so it was probably margarine). “Sometimes they were served with peas on the side, also buttered,” he said. 

As someone who eats bread only as an excuse to eat butter, I was game to try his buttered noodles. Now I find myself whipping up a pot of this simple comfort food whenever a hankering for something salty, chewy, cheesy, and buttery arises. Instead of using margarine and shelf-stable Parmesan from the green-lidded shaker, I updated the pasta with real, high-quality butter and freshly grated Parmesan, and the oldest Italian trick in the book: adding pasta cooking water to the sauce so it clings to the noodles and creates a creamy sauce. 

Some people like to make their buttered noodles with just butter and noodles, but you can certainly add a little more flavor. The key is to keep it simple.

• Liberally salt the pasta cooking water.
• Use salted butter.
• Drizzle a little truffle oil on top.
• Add freshly ground black pepper to make it similar to cacio e pepe.

This recipe calls for egg noodles, which are classic for buttered noodles. However, the beauty of buttered noodles is that you can use whatever pasta your heart desires (or pantry is stocked with). For more chew, try the following:

• Farfalle
• Spaghetti or linguine
• Macaroni
• Rigatoni or penne
• Orecchiette

Buttered noodles are great on their own but also go well with Swedish meatballs or anything with a gravy sauce, like chicken stroganoff or beef goulash.