Why would you deliberately brown butter? One reason: It tastes great.
Browning butter is not difficult, and even a small amount lends unbelievable depth to entrees – including today's recipe for Penne with Vegetables and Browned Butter Sauce.
Browned butter – often called buerre noisette – has been used in gourmet cooking for years to add a nutty, almost hazelnut flavor to sweet and savory dishes alike.
The key to successful browned butter (and not just melted butter or burned butter) is a light-colored skillet or saucepan. A dark nonstick coating or anodized aluminum can make it difficult to see the browning effects and result in the butter being undercooked or overcooked, neither of which will produce the taste you need.
It's the milk solids in butter (the white part that appears just after melting) that actually brown. Just keep the butter moving in the pan, swirling or stirring, for even browning. Once the butter begins to brown, it can go from to golden to black very quickly, so watch carefully.
(In French cooking, black butter – buerre noir – is commonly used, but it's not the flavor we're looking for here.)
So pull out that saucepan or skillet and brown up some butter. There's simply no reason a desperate cook can't take a page from a gourmet and turn out the classic flavor.
Penne With Vegetables and Browned Butter Sauce
4 servings
8 ounces penne or other short pasta
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 large onion (for about 1 cup chopped)
1 large red bell pepper (for 1 1/2 cups sliced)
1 package (8 ounces) sliced fresh button mushrooms
2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
1/4 cup pine nuts
Salt to taste
Bring 21/2 quarts water to a boil in a covered 41/2-quart Dutch oven or soup pot. When the water reaches a rapid boil, add the pasta, and cook until just tender, according to the package directions.
Meanwhile, in a 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Peel and thinly slice the onion, adding it to the skillet as you slice. Core, seed and thinly slice the red pepper, adding it to the skillet as you slice. Add the mushrooms and stir. Continue to cook until the onion begins to get tender and the mushrooms release their liquid, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and stir for another 30 seconds to incorporate. Remove the skillet from the heat.
In a light-colored skillet or sauce pan, heat butter over medium heat. Swirl butter frequently as it begins to brown. Continue to cook until butter is a light golden brown and has the aroma of toasted nuts, about 5 minutes. Stir in pine nuts and continue to stir or swirl and cook about 1 minute more to toast nuts, being careful not to burn butter. (Lift the pan above the heat if the butter starts to get too dark.) The butter will be a deep golden brown and pine nuts will be a light golden brown. Remove pan from heat.
Drain the cooked pasta into a colander and shake to remove as much water as possible. Pour the pasta into a large bowl. Add the vegetables and stir. Drizzle the browned butter and pine nuts over the pasta and vegetables, then toss to coat the pasta and vegetables well with the butter. Season with salt to taste, and serve.
Note: It is imperative to use a light-colored (aluminum, stainless steel, enamel, etc.) saucepan or skillet to brown the butter so you can judge the color and prevent under-or over-browning.
Start to finish: 25 minutes
Per serving: 425 calories (43 percent from fat), 21 g fat (8 g saturated), 30 mg cholesterol, 11 g protein, 52 g carbohydrate, 4 g dietary fiber, 85 mg sodium
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