Penne in Herb Brown Butter over Carrot-Parsnip Puree

This homey dish takes the humble root vegetables carrots and parsnips to elegant, delicious heights by blending them together into a silky puree and serving them with whole wheat pasta in a nutty brown butter sauce.

The carrots and parsnips play particularly well together in this puree as the parsnips are slightly bitter and the carrots have a great sweetness. However, if you can't locate parsnips or just don't like the taste, a puree of straight carrots is equally as compelling and there are a number of other root vegetables that can be subbed in.

The rich, creamy puree is complemented excellently by the simple yet shockingly flavourful herb brown butter sauce, which is compromised of nothing more than browned butter, garlic, fresh herbs, and a shot of lemon for some brightness.

If you desire a little bit of heat, a touch of red pepper flake in the pan with the butter will perfume the entire sauce with a subtle yet gratifying spice.

With a generous serving of root vegetables and whole wheat pasta, this recipe makes for a healthy and satisfying dish that is particularly terrific for cold, rainy nights and reheats splendidly for lunch the next day.

Brown Butters

Brown butter is one the easiest, tastiest, and most versatile sauces to pair with pasta and many other foods. Simply cook the butter for 7-8 minutes until it browns, and it will turn into a magnificent sauce to toss pasta in. As the butter cooks the milk sugars caramelize and develop character and complexity with mature notes of caramelly nuttiness.

In this rendition of brown butter, fresh garlic, thyme, and sage are all toasted in the butter, slowly releasing their flavours and aromas into the sauce.

Depending on your preference or what you have available, all sorts of herbs could be used in brown butter and would pair well with the pasta and puree. Rosemary, basil, chives, and oregano are all herbs that would also be lovely in a brown butter. Although fresh herbs are better, you can also use a small amount of dried herbs with delicious results.

When cooking this brown butter, be sure to cook on low heat and watch it closely, stirring frequently to ensure the butter and garlic don't burn. You're aiming for a dark brown, frothy sauce. If it turns black, you've gone too far.

A good trick when making brown butter for pasta is to reserve a little bit of the pasta cooking water and to add it to the pan with the cooked pasta and butter. The pasta water will add a creamy starchiness to the pan and will help to generously coat the noodles.