Brown Butter Sauce

          Want to try something simple that will give you many savory and sweet cooking options?  Then learn the simple art of making Brown Butter.  It will take you about 5-10 minutes start to finish and you’ll be so glad you did. 

            My first experience with Brown Butter happened when I wanted to recreate one of my favorite dishes from The Old Spaghetti Factory: Spaghetti with Brown Butter and Mizithra.  Mizithra is a type of Greek cheese, made from sheep and/or goat’s milk.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn how easy it was to make this at home.  My first task was trying to find a place that I could purchase the cheese.  It is not carried in any of the grocery stores I frequent.  I finally found it in a specialty food/liquor store.  Since that time I’ve also been told that any of the ingredients The Old Spaghetti Factory uses in their restaurants are able to be purchased from them—but please don’t quote me as correct on that—I’ve just heard that from a friend and have never checked it out for myself.  If you are having trouble finding it in a store near you and have access to a OSF it would be worth asking. 

            After you’ve located your cheese, it’s time to make the Brown Butter sauce.  You’ll need one stick of butter (NOT margarine or any combination thereof).  I use salted butter.  Place your butter in a small saucepan on medium heat.  You will want to stay with the pan until you’re finished.  Let the butter melt and begin to bubble like so:

            Let it gently simmer (I gently stir mine as it is cooking) for 5 minutes, or until the butter turns caramel in color.  You should be able to tell immediately when the butter is done, because it will become darker (the caramel color I mentioned) and will smell wonderful.  It will look like this:

Let cool for a few minutes…then strain.  Often I will make some and use it on pasta, then keep leftovers in the fridge, in a covered plastic container.  It will keep at least a week or two—none I’ve ever made has had the chance to stick around longer.  If you want to recreate the dish I mentioned above, use some of the butter sauce on your cooked pasta, toss, then use a grater to put your desired amount of Mizithra cheese on top.  Simple, and oh so good. 

You can also use Brown Butter in sweet recipes.  Have you ever tried it in frosting?  Such a wonderful flavor!  Be sure to add it on your list of things to try!  Want some more ideas for the kitchen?  Follow me on Pinterest: Infinitely More Than I Think on Pinterest
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