A Cadre of Cousins: Pasta with Butter (Pasta al Burro)

As you may have gathered, I have a lot of cousins.  And, as the second oldest, I can pretty much remember all of them being born, being babies, and growing up.  First came my brother Tony and me.  A few years later, we got Robin (blonde and shy, with a wild streak), then Margaret (raised mostly out-of-state but now my L.A. dinner buddy),  T.J. (the only redhead of the bunch), Sam (the survivor; a childhood heart surgery patient, now world-traveler), Jon (nicknamed Pee-Wee by the nurses at the hospital), Gina (born in Germany, black hair and pink cheeks) and, finally, Joe (a San Francisco baby and still kind of a hippie).

At the zoo-- note the exceptional photography skills

At T and Popo's house

A few of us a few weeks back; clearly no one in my family has mastered the art of cameras

Not only did T have to keep everyone straight, she also had to feed us.  Since I lived in the same town as she did, I enjoyed the benefit of meals more frequently than some of my more well-traveled cousins, but I’m certain we all had plenty of delicious moments in her kitchen (usually healthy, but, oddly, she always had cheese puffs and fudge stripe cookies stockpiled, which I was psyched about).

So today, in honor of my gaggle of cousins, I’m giving you one of the most basic recipes in T’s book.  She cooked it for me constantly.  It’s easy to double or triple for feeding a crowd, great for kids (with a side of veggies) and extremely simple to make.  I still eat it about once a week.  Seriously.

PASTA AL BURRO (Serves 4-6)
1lb pasta, any type (for children, I like ditalini or mini penne)
1/2C butter, softened
1/2C freshly grated Romano, Asiago or Parmesan cheese
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Cook pasta al dente; drain and return to the pot.  Add butter and toss well.  Add grated cheese and a few grinds of black pepper.  Serve in heated soup plates and pass additional grated cheese and pepper.

Mangia!

Tags: Butter, Main Courses