Brown Butter Sage Pasta

[landhoney]

I've had this at restaurants a couple times and decided to just try it last night. Very good and very simple.

Half a stick of butter (for 2-3 servings)
10-12 fresh sage leaves chopped rough
salt and pepper to taste
parmesan cheese (the good stuff, you only need a little)
pasta of choice (I used store bought refrigerated fresh butternut squash ravioli)

Cook the pasta in salted water.

Heat butter in pan over low/medium heat until brown. This is the only tricky part, don't burn the butter!

Once the butter is just beginning to brown add the sage leaves, you want to cook the sage leaves a few minutes at least.

Strain pasta, add pasta to brown butter pan, mix lightly, plate and add salt/pepper very lightly, and parmesan cheese liberally.

The nutty brown butter, with the sage, and the creamy cheesey ravioli, with the sharp parmesan is an amazing combination that is more than the sum of its simple ingredients.

The pasta is your choice, but everytime I have had it was some kind of cheese/vegetable ravioli or other stuffed pasta (pumpkin, squash, mushroom, or just cheese) and I think that is best, meat in this case might not always be better.

Lastly, if your still reading, Mario Batali's version adds lemon juice, which may be better but I have not tried it (I will soon though and report back).