Brown Butter Tortellini

Whenever I heard of the phrase "brown butter," I shuddered. I mean, why or how would someone even do this? What's the point? Well, after making brown butter several times for different types of recipes, I can officially confirm I am obsessed and will never stop making it. I cannot believe I've waited this long to dabble in making brown butter. I've seen others make it, and I had to believe that I was able to achieve it. I will say, one or two fails into it, that the trick to getting perfectly browned butter is watching the pan meticulously and stirring to ensure nothing is burnt. I've made brown butter for cookies, and it was finally time I used it in pasta. Tortellini felt like the perfect vessel for brown butter, so here we are.

If you've never had brown butter before, it is butter in a rendered down version, with tiny little bits of butter fat at the bottom of the pan which makes up the "brown" part of the butter. If you're not familiar, butter is made up of fat and water. It's 80% fat, but that also leaves the remaining 20% as water. When the butter is browned, it goes through a process of melting, sputtering (because of the water molecules), foaming, and then lastly, browning. It's easy to get caught up in the hoopla that surrounds brown butter because it can be tedious and stressful if not taken with care (the butter can burn within seconds), but I PROMISE you, this is totally doable. If I can make brown butter, so can you!

What Do I Need to Make Brown Butter?

The best thing you can use to make brown butter is quality butter at room temperature, and a shallow, light bottomed pan. The reason? Room temperature butter is easier to melt, and using a light-bottomed pan helps with visually seeing the butter turn brown.

Using Brown Butter:

You can use brown butter for a lot of different recipes, including:

• Cookies
• Cupcakes
• Frosting or buttercream
• Vegetables
• Pasta

The limit truly does not exist when making brown butter. It goes with everything!

Brown Butter Tortellini Ingredients:

• Brown butter: follow the directions below for making the perfect brown butter for this pasta recipe
• Tortellini: You can forego the tortellini and use fusilli, penne, ziti, or even spaghetti
• Parmesan: Parmesan cheese just goes really well with the tender pasta and the nutty brown butter.
• Basil: the perfect garnish!

Making Brown Butter:

1. Add butter to a light-bottomed medium pan and turn flame on to a medium heat. It will begin to sputter and foam. This is a good thing!
2. Continue to stir the butter and keep on a medium heat, ensuring the solids do not burn at the bottom. The aromas from the browned butter should be intense with nutty and buttery notes.
3. Let the butter start to render down and brown; keeping an eye on the pan for 5-7 minutes. Once the foaming starts to dissipate, continue to stir and you'll start to see small brown bits at the bottom of the pan, and the liquid butter will become a golden or amber color.
4. Turn off the heat. Scrape the browned bits and the browned butter into a bowl and serve as desired (for recipe for tortellini, see recipe card)

Brown butter is such a fun way to elevate any dish or baked good. It adds a depth of flavor that is unlike any other. Nutty, buttery, creamy, slightly toasted, and tossed with this tortellini in a parmesan and cream sauce is truly the perfect combination of flavors. Pasta and brown 2butter, is there anything better?