Ravioli with brown butter and crispy sage is a quintessential northern Italian pasta recipe. The concept is pretty simple: cook the ravioli and, while still hot, toss it with a simple sauce made with brown butter, sage leaves and some of the cooking pasta water. Sprinkle a generous amount of Parmesan cheese and serve.
Depending on the time you have available, this dish can be made for a quick lunch or a weeknight dinner by using good quality, refrigerated, store-bought ravioli and a few staple ingredients. If you have more time, make it a weekend project and make your own fresh ravioli with Ricotta filling or roasted butternut squash filling…but this will be an other post all together.
The cooking time for this recipe is just 10 minutes. Make sure to not overcook the ravioli because they will also cook more in the skillet with the brown butter and the sage. As with all pasta recipes, the step of tossing the pasta in the skillet with the sauce just before serving is very important: that’s where all the flavors come together as the pasta starts to absorb the sauce.
This is certainly a rich and indulgent dish, and it is very satisfying even when served is small portions. Serve it alongside a big platter of roasted vegetables, a glass of chilled white wine, and enjoy it without guilt!
- 8 oz. fresh ricotta ravioli, refrigerated
- 5-6 TBSP butter
- 10 med. sage leaves, washed and dried
- --- --- salt and pepper
- 1 TBSP. fresh lemon juice
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese
- Bring a pot of well-salted water to boil. Add the ravioli all at once and stir to submerge and separate them. Reduce the heat slightly and cook at a gentle boil, uncovered for about 6 minutes or according to the package’s instructions, making sure not to overcook.
- While the water boils, prepare the simple sauce: In a 12”-14” skillet (with a light-colored bottom, if possible, so you can see the butter changing colors), melt the butter over medium heat and continue cooking until just golden brown in color (“noisette”). Add the sage and season with some salt and pepper. Cook very briefly until the sage is almost crispy, add the lemon and remove from the heat.
- When the ravioli are cooked, lift them from the pot with a slotted spoon and add them straight to the skillet. Add a little of the cooking water to lighten up the sauce and sprinkle some Parmesan cheese over the ravioli. Toss very gently to coat.
- Serve immediately on warmed plates with some extra Parmesan cheese.
Watch for my new postings now on Friday instead of Saturday!
You might want to try these pasta recipes also, from the blog’s archives:
Easy Weeknight Rigatoni with Broccoli and Chicken
One Pan Tortellini with Pancetta
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I would love to know what do you think of this recipe – Leave a comment below!
I just made a fresh pumpkin ravioli in a creamy sage sauce. We have so much sage in our garden and it is starting to freeze around here, so I have been using as much as I can. This all looks very good looking and tasty
That sounds delicious Ben – I will need to try fresh pumpkin ravioli in a creamy sage sauce soon!
Thanks for reading!