So during yesterday’s Sneak Peek, I got a little italic-crazy. Are we still cool?

After a weekend full of excitement [sarcasm] during the Super Bowl (basically a replay of the 2007 Super Bowl with the same teams. Yawn.) and what I’m sure was a lot of snack and food-making, tonight’s meal is perfect. It requires only four ingredients and takes about 10 minutes to cook.

Seriously. It’s the lazy-man’s Meatless Monday tonight.

I’m all about store-bought pasta when in a pinch. And specialty stores, like Whole Foods, have some pretty awesome pasta finds.

Butternut squash ravioli are exquisite, especially when done right. You can do a lot with them (like a cream tarragon sauce with goat cheese….yum!) but tonight, I’m encouraging taking Easy Street and pairing the ravioli with simple browned butter and sage. If you can find one that doesn’t look like it was made in Ronald McDonald’s kitchen, that’d be best.

The best part about this dish is the crispy sage. You fry it up in the butter as it browns and it turns into this crunchy topping with a really unique flavor. Even if you think you don’t like sage, don’t knock this one til you’ve tried it.

And if you’ve never browned butter, don’t be intimidated. It’s probably the easiest thing to do. You just cook it over low heat until it turns dark brown and smells nutty. It’s one of the best ways to eat butter—the other, of course, being clarified with artichokes to dip in it.

Gather Things Up

• 1 Package of prepared butternut squash ravioli
• Sage, to taste (about 6-8 leaves, depending on your buds’ liking)
• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 1 Tbsp. Pecorino or Parmesan cheese, grated
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Brown it

1. In a pot of salted water, cook the pasta according to package directions
2. In a small pan, melt butter over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally. When it starts to froth, add the sage leaves.

   

   

   

3. Continue cooking the butter over the low heat, stirring occasionally. Cook until it turns a dark brown and smells nutty. The sage leaves will fry as you brown the butter.

   

   

4. Once the butter has browned, pour over the pasta, sage leaves included, and top off with cheese and salt and pepper.

   

   

5. Eat it without guilt.