Burro e Salvia
Butter and sage, nothing else needed. The dressing for fresh pasta: the butter foams, the sage crisps, and the Parmigiano melts into the pan. Four ingredients, timed to the second.
Burro e salvia belongs to the North of Italy, where fresh pasta is dressed simply and nothing is added without reason. In Emilia-Romagna it is the companion to tortellini and to the family table. It is so fundamental that it barely counts as a recipe, butter and sage have been fried together in Northern kitchens for centuries, and every region that makes fresh pasta claims it as its own.
Only a few ingredients
Butter
Medium heat. Melted until it foams, the foam is the signal. It should barely colour; this is not burro nocciola.
generousSage
Fresh leaves, whole or torn. Thirty seconds to a minute, they crisp and perfume the butter. The moment they smell like sage, the sauce is done.
the starParmigiano Reggiano
Grated generously into the tossed pasta, not just on top. It melts into the butter and clings to the ribbons.
Black Pepper
Freshly ground, at the end.
optionalDo not brown the butter. Let it foam.
The butter for burro e salvia should foam and barely colour. It should not brown. Brown butter is burro nocciola, a different sauce for a different dish. Here the butter is the carrier and the sage is the flavour; if the butter turns brown the sage is past crisp and bitter. Keep the heat medium, stay at the pan, and toss the pasta the moment the sage smells ready.
Tagliatelle
Fresh ribbons pick up the butter and sage perfectly.
Fettuccine
Wide, silky, and happy to carry this sauce.
Tortellini
Stuffed with pork, mortadella, prosciutto, Parmigiano, and a whisper of nutmeg.
Ready to cook?
These sources we trust. Each one makes it correctly.
Other sauces from the same region
Ragù alla Bolognese
A slow-cooked, complex meat sauce. It is not a 'meat-flavoured tomato sauce'. It is a meat sauce that happens to have a little tomato.
Funghi Porcini
Porcini carry more flavour than most meats. In autumn, they need very little help.
Olio e Parmigiano
Pasta with olive oil and Parmigiano Reggiano. This is not a recipe. It is an assembly. The entire dish depends on two ingredients of the highest possible quality, and a technique that consists entirely of knowing when to stop.