Pantry, Spicy Brown Butter & Walnut Pasta
This is dinner made simple. Rich, tangy and cheesy. Pasta at it’s best.
Whether you forgot to grocery shop, had a bit too much to drink last night or just refuse to leave the house, this dish serves a crowd, is cheap to make and takes less than 20 minutes to put together. Just remember to have all your ingredients chopped and prepared before you get started! It’ll set you up for success.
Buen provecho!
ingredients:
8oz dry spaghetti (half a bag)
1/2 stick of unsalted butter
100g walnuts
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp chile flake
1 lemon
1 red onion
4 cloves of garlic
100g Grana Padano cheese (or Pecorino)
Kosher salt
Freshly cracked black pepper
instructions:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. While it comes up to temperature, prepare all of your ingredients.
Cut your onion in half, and then into thick wedges (approximately one and a half inch thick) and set aside.
Thinly slice your garlic cloves and let them resting in a small plate coated in olive oil so they don’t oxidize. Set aside.
Grate your cheese with a box grater or a microplane and set aside.
Zest your lemon. Collect all the zest into a small plate. Then slice it in half and collect the juice into another small container or jar. Set aside.
Very roughly chop or crush your walnuts. You want irregular pieces.
In a large skillet, melt the 1/2 stick of butter and add a bit of olive oil. Mix well.
To your melted butter, add your walnuts and let them fry in the fat for about 2 minutes on medium / low heat.
Once the nuts look golden brown, toasty and have released their aroma, add to the pan your onion wedges. Mix everything well and let the onions cook down and sweat. This will take about 2 to 3 minutes.
Once you’ve added the onions to the pan, salt your water with 1/4 cup of salt and add your pasta to the boiling water. Let cook for 4 to 5 minutes.
After the onion looks soft and translucent, add your garlic and sauté everything until it becomes fragrant (about a minute or 2).
Once everything is looking toasty and fried, add your lemon zest, several cracks of black pepper and your chile flake. Combine well. These ingredients should only be there for 30 seconds to a minute before your pasta is incorporated to the pan.
Fish out your pasta with tongs from the water and add it to your pan with the nuts and alliums. Reserve one cup of the pasta cooking water and start mixing the spaghetti making sure it’s well combined with everything in the pan.
From here, you’ll want to start adding the pasta water, lemon juice and cheese in stages. Add 1/3 of the three ingredients, and then stir the pasta with you tongs energetically. You’ll want the spaghetti to move as much as possible, this way it will release it’s starch and thicken the sauce.
If you feel like your pan is looking too liquid and soupy, keep stirring your spaghetti and you’ll see how with time, movement and heat everything begins to thicken. If at any point you feel like the pasta is now too dry, and it’s too tight and no longer saucy, then add a bit more pasta water (and / or lemon juice) and shake one more time. You’ll see how everything gets coated again in sauce.
Keep adding your cheese, pasta water and lemon juice in stages, stirring and moving regularly until you’re left with the desired consistency. It should all look rich, glossy and saucy.
When ready, plate and top with more grated Grana Padano cheese, a pinch more chile flake and a final glug of olive oil (this olive oil brings freshness and an additional touch of flavour). Finish everything with a small pinch of salt.
