Orecchiette with Butter, Sage, Garlic and Parmesan.

If you read my blog regularly, you may remember me mentioning that I bought a new recipe book the other week. I've been after it for some time. It's called 'Big Flavours and Rough Edges' - Recipes from the Eagle. It's out of print, and copies are changing hands for over a £100. But, I found a second hand copy - condition 'Average' for a tenner - and practically chewed the sellers arm off. Apart from a preface page being ripped, its perfect....and seeing as how all my recipe books get well used and spattered with ingredients anyway, who cares. It's got some amazing recipes in it - I recommend it.

The Eagle pub on the Farringdon Road is one of my favourite gastro-pubs, the first gastro-pub, the place that started it all in fact, and although probably no longer the best, it's easily still in the top five. They sell the most amazing steak sandwich (and that recipe is what I was after when I purchased the book), but it's another recipe from the book I'm going to write about.

Last night, I cooked Orecchiette with Butter, Sage, Garlic and Parmesan and it was gorgeous, so simple, quick and cheap! with a scant 4 main ingredients. It's surprising sometimes how some of the most simple dishes are the tastiest. I've never used the Orecchiette pasta shape before, the recipe describes it as 'a chewy type of pasta that looks like the name suggests, little ears'.

Anyway - seeing as the books out of print, and to get your hands on this recipe your either going to have to shell out a £100+ or be really lucky like I was, I'll give you the recipe to try for yourself.

Orechiette with Butter, Sage, Garlic and Parmesan.

Serves 4

75g Unsalted Butter
450g Orecchiette Pasta
2 Garlic Cloves, crushed but left whole.
20 or so Sage leaves, finely chopped
4 Tbs freshly grated Parmesan Cheese.

Clarify the butter by melting it over the lowest possible heat and then skimming off the bits that float on top. Gently pour the clarified butter into a clean pan, discarding the curds (or is it Whey?) that will have collected at the bottom. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water until al dente, then drain.

Heat the butter with the garlic cloves and sage. When the garlic just begins to brown, remove it and throw it away. Mix the butter and sage with the orecchiette and Parmesan.