Recipe XVII: Sickbed Butter Noodles
One of the more amusing aspects of post-pandemic life is that any confession of sickness comes with a mandatory preemptive “It’s not Covid.” I don’t know about your corner of the world but there’s a nasty flu going around in mine — not Covid —that’s been knocking people out for weeks, and our little household hasn’t been spared. Naturally there’s been a circulating menu of sickbed meals, with this one an especially popular option.
Pasta is quintessential Get Well Soon fare in Italy, as much as chicken soup is where I hail from. This has a kind of aromatic bistro mac & cheese-meets-cacio e pepe thing going for it and look, I’m nothing if not a firm believer in getting a little extra when one falls ill: break out the trailing robe, blast Haendel’s Sarabande, and be vivified by the sickbed refreshments. While you can pretty much use any kind of pasta for this one, I prefer shells because they just feel right.
INGREDIENTS:
10 oz (300 grams) shells or pasta of choice
3 tbsp butter
5–6 fresh sage leaves
2 tbsp parmesan cheese + more for topping
S&P to taste
DIRECTIONS:
Start your pasta. Melt the butter in a pan half the sage leaves on low heat until lightly brown and fragrant, then set aside. Strain the pasta, save some of the water, then add it to the butter and warm up again with the rest of the sage leaves. Add to the pasta and stir in the parmesan. Season to taste and top with more parm after plating. Makes for about 2 generous servings.
NOTES: If you’re not keen for chomping on sage leaves but still want the aromatic benefits you can just pluck the leaves out when ready to serve OR lightly flour and deep fry with a dash of salt for a side snack.
Buona Befana and be well!
