James Kenji Lopez-Alt
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Sage Caramelized Cream and Squash Pasta
🕑 Added 2024-01-10 22:44:46 +0000 UTCThis recipe idea came after reading some ideas from Aki and Alex at Ideas in Food and Lizzie Stark, author of Egg: A Dozen Ovatures, both of whom love to fry eggs in heavy cream until the heavy cream breaks and browns like browned butter.
It's a delicious technique because cream is essentially the same constituent parts as butter, but with a higher concentration of milk solids (proteins and sugars) than butter. So when you cook it until the water evaporates, you're left with butterfat (just as with butter), along with a whole bunch of milk solids to brown and give that characteristic browned butter nutty sweetness.
I've found uses for it in a number of situations (including frying a steak or pork chop, or making a caramelized cream of tomato soup), but this caramlized cream pasta sauce is a pretty good one.
It's basically butternut squash pasta with a sage brown butter sauce, but instead of browned butter, I used browned heavy cream.
Ingredients:
1 pint (500ml) heavy cream, divided
1 pound (450g) of diced butternut squash (about 1/2-inch dice)
A couple slices of bacon or pancetta, finely diced
2 ounces (60g) of pinenuts or roughly chopped hazelnuts (optional)
Salt and pepper
A bunch of fresh sage, leaves thinly sliced or minced
1 tablespoon (15ml) of fresh lemon juice
A dash of freshly grated nutmeg
1 pound (450g) of dry tubular pasta, such as penne or rigatoni
An ounce (30g) of grated Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for the table
1. Add half of the cream to a large, wide pot. A very large saucepan or straight-sided sauté pan would do, so would a wok or an enameled Dutch oven. Non-stick is fine, so is any other material you might have. Add the squash and bacon (and nuts, if using), season with salt and pepper, and cook over medium heat, stirring and tossing frequently until the cream boils away and edges of the squash and bacon begin to turn a golden, nutty brown, about 10 minutes. (Note: Do not let any of the browned bits burn. If there's any threat of burning, immediately move on to the next step.)
2. Remove from heat. Add the minced sage. It should sizzle in the fat immediately. Add the lemon juice, nutmeg, and reserved half of the cream. Stir to scrape up any browned bits, then set the sauce aside. (It's OK if the sauce looks a little greasy or broken at this point).
3. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta for one minute less than the package directions. Using a wire mesh strainer or a spider, transfer the pasta to the skillet with the sauce. Use a ladle to splash about a cup of pasta water over the pan. Set the pan over medium-high heat and cook, stirring and tossing constantly, until the pasta is perfectly al dente and the sauce is creamy and emulsified, about 1 minute. (If the sauce is thin and watery, let it cook down a little longer. If it's thick or greasy/broken, add a splash more pasta water).
4. Off-heat, stir in the cheese. Serve immediately, with more cheese at the tableside.
Comments
Laura Wyatt
Same here, Deb! Would love to try this and will sub out olive oil for the bacon grease.
James Kenji Lopez-Alt
My bad - it should be 250ml at each addition!
James Kenji Lopez-Alt
Yes - updated! It should be about 250ml at each addition. About a pint total.
Yann Bosch
Do not use a whole pint of cream it comes out terribly thick. Ask me how I know. Kenji must have made a typo, as pointed out by the commenter above.
James Oliver
Oh yes - I'll take advantage of that to use the maximum amount of cream possible!
Jan Weihmann
I agree, there is an issue with the first ingredient: 1 pint (250 ml) heavy cream, is not a true statement. It is either: 1 pint (500 ml) heavy cream -or- 1/2 pint (250 ml) heavy cream Then it can be divided.
Deb Ha
This looks fantastic and I can't wait to try it! I eat a vegetarian diet so I know I'm not in your primary target audience, but I love your approach to food and cooking--and I love the challenge of adapting recipes to be vegetarian. This one looks especially ripe for adaptation. Thank you, Kenji!
Jon N
After cooking this tonight, I’ve decided I think Kenji meant one pint of cream (473 ml). I also suggest one clove of garlic thinly sliced to accompany the sage leaves. And clarification from Kenji on what exactly one bunch of fresh sage equals in grams. I used 11 grams: the yield of a 3 or 4 oz fresh herb container from the market. The browning bit portion also needed longer than 10 minutes for me. Thanks Kenji!
Jon N
I don’t think so. If the ingredient list says “1 pint (250 ml)” he either meant 1 pint or 250 ml total. There is no other referential measurement in the directions except “halve the cream”
Ole
The way I read it is half a typo? 1 pint total, but brown only half. So 250ml till brown, then add the rest to make the sauce.
Jon N
Kenji, I see you've notated a pint as 250 ml. Is that a typo?
