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Tom says in his Pasta chapter that Italians are not known for their heavy sauces when it comes to making and serving pasta. In fact, Italians don't do much to a pasta dish - letting each ingredient speak for itself. Tom says, 'We swamp our pasta dishes with sauce, whereas Italians use the sauce almost as a seasoning.'

I chose the simplest dish to illustrate how it doesn't take a lot to make a great dish. In fact it only takes three ingredients, not including the pasta: butter, parmesan and sage.


92. Pasta with Parmesan (sage variation) - *Pasta*

You may remember that I made the original Pasta with Parmesan in one of my very first CL recipes, and also included its tomato purée variation. This time, I would use just a few sage leaves for the dish.

For this recipe, I chose linguine instead of spaghetti as I thought it would do a better job at absorbing the sauce.

So I let the pasta cook in boiling salted water. Once it was done, I drained it and added some butter cubes (25g for one portion) and chopped sage leaves. I mixed it off the heat and let it sit for a few seconds before folding in the grated parmesan (also 25g).

And that's it!

Could it be any easier, or more delicious?


Despite the butter and cheese, it was actually a very light and fulfilling meal. I didn't even need to add salt or pepper and just enjoyed the sharpness of the parmesan against the mellow warmth of the butter and fragrant sage. I have to say sage is the most beautiful of all herbs - so velvety.


I often daydream of having a villa in rural Italy. Imagine being able to go out before the sun gets too hot, getting fresh butter, parmesan and sage. And then making this dish for lunch and eating it in a cool house with the shutters closed to block out the garish sun. Bliss!