The moment I saw this recipe on 101 Cookbooks, my favorite cooking blog, I knew that I had to make it. I salivated over the photo (shown to the right) for about a week, until I decided to send the link to my good friend and amazing cook, Lizzie. She agreed to bring over some herbs from her garden in exchange for using my kitchen!

I was nervous to make this dish, because I have been dairy free for over a year and it called for butter. A lot of butter. However, Lizzie saved the day by bringing fresh raw butter straight from the farm, which made it easier for me to digest. Fun Fact: Raw dairy has enzymes in it that help the body digest lactase. Regular pasturized dairy doesn’t have this enzyme because it has gone through the rigurous pasturization process. My fears aside, we got to cooking right away!

Here is the link for the actual recipe, although we changed it up:
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/pappardelle-with-spiced-butter-recipe.html

The great thing about this dish is that you can use whatever spices you want! We didn’t have saffron (ridiculously priced at about $6/thread), but Lizzie had grown fresh Thyme and Parsley in her herb garden which we added to the cinnamon, tumeric, cayenne, chili powder, and coriander. We couldn’t find plain fresh Pappardelle either so we used fresh Spinach and Beet Pappardelle from Eli’s, aka a foodie’s grocery dream come true, located on 80th and 3rd, which made the dish beautifully colorful. As you can see, our pasta (picture taken with my iphone) is not quite as elegant as Heidi’s, but it tasted delightful.

Here is our version of the recipe below:
– Boil water for pasta
– When water has boiled, add fresh pasta and 1 tbspn of salt
– Cook for 2-5 minutes depending on how you like your pasta
– Drain and set aside
– While water is boiling, sautee a handful of shallots in a cup of raw butter and two tbsps of olive oil
– When the butter started to look brown (in about 5 minutes), add all of the dry spices and stirred- cinnamon, tumeric, cayenne pepper, chili powder, coriander, parsley, and paprika
– Add 1/2 tspn fresh ginger
– Stir for another 3 or 4 minutes and add fresh parsley, thyme
– Pour mixture over cooked pasta and mix in a handful of pine nuts

Two weeks after having my polyps removed, after a full year of not smelling anything, I was positively ecstatic to be able to smell what was radiating through my kitchen. Every herb added a new dimension, color, and scent. It was like creating a science experiment in elementary school.

We paired our pasta with a salad of vegetables from our CSA. We used red lettuce and arugula as a base and added firey red, spicy radishes as well. Radishes are helpful in the disgestion of fat which helped with the butter. I topped it off with olive oil, lemon, and balsamic vinegar for a simple summer salad.

And of course, I have to thank Lizzie for bringing some of her famous “healthy” cookies baked with coconut oil and raw cacao nibs for dessert. And also for all of the facts on radishes and raw dairy! www.lizziejordan.com