Buttered Noodles

It seems a little silly to write a recipe for buttered noodles, but applying a smidgeon of technique can really upgrade this dish. It's become a family favorite.

These amounts are what currently serves two adults and two kids. Scale up or down to suit your needs.

• 10 oz good quality dried pasta (medium shells are my go to)
• 2.5 tbsp butter (or other fat; I've done this with olive oil and bacon grease)
• salt
• black pepper

Place the pasta in a suitably sized pan (I use a 2.5qt sauce pan) and cover by about 1" or so of water. Salt the water, put the pan on high heat, and set a timer for the recommended cooking time on the package. Get out a 1 cup measuring cup.

Stir a couple times during cooking. When the timer goes off, stir again and get a sense for how close to done the pasta is. When it seems close to done, spoon out a piece of pasta and taste. You want al dente or even slightly undercooked pasta. There's more cooking to come.

Put the measuring cup in the sink, and using the lid, strain about a cup of the pasta water into the measuring cup. Pour the rest of the pasta water down the drain. We do not want perfectly strained pasta, so there's no need to dirty a colander.

Set the pan back on the burner over lowest heat. Add the butter, a good pinch of salt, and (preferably fresh-ground) black pepper along with a splash of pasta water from the measuring cup.

Stir, slowly at first, then more vigorously until the butter and pasta water emulsify into a creamy sauce. If the sauce splits or gets too thick, add another splash of pasta water and stir again. Pasta water and stirring cure most ills.

Serving Suggestion

Serve with your favorite sausage (e.g. polish, kielbasa, etc) and some roasted corn.