Two music graduates chronicle the culinary delights of Leeds and London and explore the height of fine dining on a limited budget.

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March 04, 2011

Butter Fetish: Lactic Pasta Spectacular

Suffering from a heavy dose of manflu today and faced with lunch alone, I decided to whip up some comfort food. It's a pretty simple recipe, but I now feel good enough to blog about it and may even leave the house.

Serves 1 hungry, ill person

150g spaghetti or similar
40g butter, or as much as you feel your cholesterol can take
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
1 tsp dried rosemary
1tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried parsley 
Salt & pepper

Put a saucepan on for the pasta in the usual manner, remembering to salt the water (no need for oil - contrary to popular belief it doesn't do anything). Mince the garlic and dice the onion as small as possible, and ever-so-gently melt the butter in the smallest saucepan possible. When the butter is melted, but before it begins to clarify, toss in the onion, garlic and herbs and keep stirring. You don't want anything to turn brown. Cook the pasta until just cooked. Halfway through, take out a bit of the cooking water with a mug or something and add it to the buttery onion mix. When the pasta is cooked, drain it, reserving the cooking liquid. This is very important! Not only does that starchy water help the buttery goodness spread throughout the pasta, it makes deliciously warming broth for after. Honestly, it's not as disgusting as it sounds.

*salivates*


Anyway, add more of the starchy pasta-water to the onion mix if it needs it, and toss in the pasta when the onion's softened. Stir through, using a bit more starchwater if necessary and garnish with pepper, parmesan and more butter if you feel like you can take it. Eat quickly to nourish both body and soul.

It's a far cry from my normal style of cooking a pasta sauce, but there's something about it that just feels so good on a miserable sicky day. Try it! Just don't complain if it gives you a heart attack.