Butter Parmesan Spaghetti is cooked the same way as your regular Spaghetti, but the Spaghetti is immediately tossed in both Butter & freshly grated Parmesan or Parmigiano Reggiano with a bit of Pasta Water until its creamy, before being topped or tossed with a simple Spaghetti Sauce made from Passata & Soffritto with Fresh Basil Leaves and Mushrooms for a unique, creamy, yet familiar taste.
Butter Parmesan Spaghetti Ingredients
To make this Creamy Butter Parmesan Spaghetti recipe you will need;
- Spaghetti
- Sea Salt
- Butter
- Parmesan or Parmigiano Reggiano
- Soffritto (Onion, Carrots, Celery) with Garlic & Mushrooms
- 1 lb Ground Beef (can include Sausages too)
- Fresh Basil
- Black Pepper
- Passata
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Truffle Oil
Spaghetti Portions
Weighing out Spaghetti
Place a glass on the scale and zero off, and measure out 100g of Spaghetti per person. Set this aside until the pot of salted water is at a boil.
This recipe makes about 1200g of Pasta sauce without any Pasta water added to adjust the consistency. Generally yiou want 200 g of Sauce for every 100 g of Pasta for each serving.
How to Cook Spaghetti
Bring a pot filled with 16 Cups of Water and 2 Tbl of Sea Salt, and bring to a boil over max heat. Add the Spaghetti and mix until the water comes back to a boil. Then boil until the Pasta is al dente. The more Pasta you boil the longer it will take.
When straining out the water or removing the Pasta from the pot, do not let it air dry and never rinse. Immediately place in Pasta Sauce or in this recipe with Butter & Pasta Water. Reserve the Pasta Water in order to adjust the consistency of both the Butter & Parmesan Pasta to create a creamy sauce and the Pasta Sauce itself.
Creamy Butter Parmesan Spaghetti
This is sort of like Cacio E Pepe or Fetuccine Al Burro. Butter & Parmesan or Parmigiano Reggiano is added with Pasta Water to create a creamy sauce. We do the exact same thing, right in the pot the Spaghetti was cooking in. Immediately after straining and reserving some of the Pasta Water.
You need the Pasta Water to adjust the consistency into a Creamy Sauce and to adjust the Pasta sauce too. Whether it is finished in the sauce or plated and topped with Pasta sauce, doesn’t matter. Ensure you add enough to keep it Creamy and prevent it from drying out or clumping together. Especially if Pasta sauce is being served on top, instead of mixed in.
Use 1 Tbl of Butter per 100 g of Dried Pasta that has been cooked. With 10 g or more of freshly fine grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Use the Pasta Water to create a Creamy Sauce while tossing the Spaghetti.
How to make Spaghetti Meat Sauce
This Spaghetti Meat Sauce starts off with Extra Virigin Olive Oil or Truffle Oil and a Soffritto with Garlic & Mushrooms added. Ground Beef is added and browned before the Passata with Water are added. The whole Spaghetti Sauce is mixed and brought to a boil, before the heat is reduced to low, partiall covered to simmer for about 1 hour. Mixing every so often, more so towards the end. Pasta water is used to adjust the consistency, if or when needed.
Soffritto
Prepare the Soffritti with Mushrooms & Garlic.
Heat a large Pan over medium heat with Oil. Add Soffritto with Salt & Pepper to cook 3-5 minutes.
Ground Beef
Turn the heat to max and add 1 lb of ground beef to brown. Break up the meat as you cook.
Passata
Empty 1 bottle of Passata into the pan and fill the bottle with 1 Cup of water. Shake well to get all the Passata and empty into the pan. Bring to a boil while mixing if not already and lower the heat to low. Partially cover and simmer for 1 hour. Mix every so often. Adjust with more water if necessary and degrease if needed.
How to remove excess Fat from Pasta Sauce
Depending on the absorbability of the Sauce, how much fat is used, or various meats added in like Regular or Medium ground Beef vs Lean ground Beef, any Sausages or other cuts of meat added. You may find yourself needing to remove excess Fat from the Sauce (Degreasing). This is evident if you see Fat pooling around the edges while simmering the Pasta Sauce. While you do want maximum absoption of Fat in the Pasta Sauce. Pooling Fat is a sign that there is too much Fat in the Sauce. This can be removed a few different ways.
- Use a spoon to carefully scoop the fat off
- Paper towel to blot the Fat and pick it up and away from the sauce
- Drain excess grease off before adding in the Passata, especially useful if using fattier cuts of meat like regular or medium ground beef.
Spoon off Fat from Pasta Sauce
You might want to take it off the heat so that the simmering stops because you have to get the spoon level, and press just a bit so that only the Oil fills the spoon. Empty this into a small bowl to discard.
Chunky or Smooth Pasta Sauce
How chunky or smooth your Pasta Meat Sauce is really depends on the size of the vegetables going into the sauce or whether they are included in the sauce at all.
Smooth Spaghetti Meat Sauce
A smooth Spaghetti Sauce can be made by chopping the vegetables in large pieces in order to cook and release its flavor into the Oil before being removed with tongs, right before adding in the Passata. This creates an extremely smooth spaghetti sauce, since it doesn’t really contain any vegetables at all.
Another method is to puree in a food processor or grate the vegetables. This has the added benefit of a stronger taste from including the aromatic vegetables. But still small enough that it breaks down for the most part, while simmering.
Chunky Spaghetti Meat Sauce
A chunky Spaghetti Sauce can be made by coarsley chopping or dicing the vegetables into larger pieces. For less chunky, finely chop the vegetables to the desired size.
Different ways to serve Spaghetti
There are three main ways Spaghetti can be served and there are slight nuanaces in the overall flavor of the entire dish with each method. I may be getting to particular here, but for me I notice the difference, and thought it worth mentioning.
- The Spaghetti with Sauce on top, allows the Buttery Creamy Spaghetti to come to the forefront.
- With Pan Spaghetti, you get what feels like a less meaty Spaghetti, but with a very nice Pasta Sauce consistency and equal balance in flavor between the two sauce.
- While the Spaghetti & Meat Sauce brings the Tomato Meat Sauce to the forefront.
Spaghetti with Sauce on top
This is more of an aesthetics thing, where beautifully cooked Creamy Parmesan Pasta is topped with a luscious Red Pasta Meat Sauce. This is my preferred way and the way as described in the main recipe, because you don’t have to calculate how much Pasta Sauce to add to how much Pasta.
How to make Spaghetti with Sauce on top
Just cook the Pasta, strain, add Butter & Cheese, to mix well. Add enough pasta water and toss well to create a creamy sauce and plate. Ladle the simmering Spaghetti Sauce on top and serve. Optionally with a garnish of Parsley and/or Basil. Some Chili Flakes too if you want some extra heat.
Pan Spaghetti
This way of preparing the Pasta is the Italian way, and it serves a function. When Pasta is finished in a Pasta Sauce within a pan, the starches from the Pasta rub off and go into the Sauce. This further emulsifies the Sauce and any Oil in the Sauce. It also allows you to adjust the consistency of the Sauce right there on the spot with Pasta Water. The starches already present will further emulsify the water into the sauce. It’s the best way, solely based on function.
The Spaghetti Sauce has a thicker consistency to it, contributing to the overall creaminess of the entire dish. All of which can be adjusted with the pasta water, which adds in more starch and the Salt content doesn’t affect the Meat Sauce all that much, but is more flavorful than just water. Although with this method you have to portion out how much Sauce and Pasta you are using and then combine them into the pan to cook briefly while you adjust the consistency.
How to make Pan Spaghetti
After your Spaghetti Sauce is ready, portion out 200g of Sauce per 100 g of dried Pasta that has been cooked. When your Pasta is ready with the Butter, Cheese and enough water added to create a Creamy Sauce, add the Pasta into the pan with the Spaghetti Meat Sauce to cook briefly while mixing. add more Pasta Water if needed to adjust the consistency. Plate & Serve.
Spaghetti & Meat Sauce
This method adds a bit of the Meat Sauce in with the Butter & Cheese to mix through and plate. Then the desired amount of Meat Sauce is ladled on top. You get the Pasta Meat Sauce throughout the Spaghetti, but also nice meaty bits in the Sauce ladled on top. It feels more meatier.
How to make Spaghetti & Meat Sauce
When preparing the Spaghetti to be plated, add a bit of Meat Sauce to mix through and coat the Spaghetti. How much is entirely up to you. Plate the Spaghetti and ladle the desired amount of Meat Sauce on top.
Spaghetti & Meatballs
With Spaghetti & Meatballs, we introduce Meatballs along with the ground beef used to make the Meat Sauce. The Meatballs can be made from scratch using a 50/50 ground Beef & Pork or all ground Pork, or made from Italian Sausages with the skin removed and portioned out into Meatballs. You can also make a Homemade Italian Sausage mix and shape into meatballs.
Spaghetti & Meatballs
If including meatballs, then pan fry the meatballs and use the fond and residual fat topped with more if needed to make about 1/4 C to cook the Soffritto. This will add in some much more flavor.
Spaghetti with Garlic Bread
Lets not forget the Garlic Bread! This is a wonderful Garlic Bread with a Heavy Garlic Punch and a nice spread of Herbs with a Beautiful Buttery Yellow color. It only takes minutes to prepare and toast too. Sprinkle some Cheese on, to make Cheesy Garlic Bread!
Equipment
- 1 Pasta Pot
- 1 Large Skillet
- 1 Tong
- 1 Digital Scale
- 1 Large Bowl – To hold the strained pasta water or if you have an inner sieve for the pasta pot then to mix the pasta with the Butter, Cheese, and Pasta Water
- 1 Fine Cheese Grater
- 1 Strainer
Ingredients
- 400 g Spaghetti
- 690 ml Passata - See notes
- 1 C Water - Emptied into the Passata jar and shaken
- 1/4 C Butter - 1 Tbl per 100g of Pasta
- 40 g Parmigiano Reggiano - Finely shredded, about 10g or more per 100g of pasta
- 12 Large Fresh Basil Leaves - Torn into pieces, added last
- 1 lb Ground Beef
Soffritto with Mushrooms & Garlic
- 1/4 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil - or Truffle Oil
- 1 Med Onion - Coarsely Chopped
- 1 Med Carrot - Coarsely Chopped
- 1 Stick Celery - Coarsely Chopped
- 3 Cloves Garlic - Minced
- 114 g Cremini Mushrooms - Or up to 227g, Coarsely Chopped
- 2 tsp Sea Salt - Add more at the end if needed
- 1 tsp Black Pepper - or more for some heat
Instructions
- Prepare the Soffritti with Mushrooms & Garlic. Heat a large Pan over medium heat with Oil. Add to the Pan the Soffritto with Salt & Pepper to cook 3-5minutes.
- Turn the heat to max and add 1 lb of ground beef to brown. Break up the meat as you cook. Empty 1 bottle of Passata into the pan and fill the bottle with 1 Cup of water. Shake well to get all the Passata and empty into the pan. Bring to a boil while mixing if not already, and lower the heat to low. Partially cover and simmer for 1 hour. Mix every so often. Adjust with more water if necessary, and degrease the sauce if needed.
- When about 20–25 minutes of cook time remain. Fill a Pasta Pot up with 16 Cups of Water & 2 Tbl of Sea Salt to bring to as boil.Meanwhile, finely grate the Parmigiano into a Bowl and set aside. Measure out the Butter and set aside.
- When 10–15 minutes of the Pasta Sauce cook time remains and the Water is at a Boil, add the Spaghetti to cook until done to your liking and tear the Basil Leaves to add them to the Sauce to mix through.
- Strain out the Spaghetti, reserving some water to adjust the consistency of the sauce. Immediately place the strained Spaghetti back into the pot with Butter and toss well. Then add the Parmigiano and toss well again. Add enough Pasta water and toss aggressively to create a creamy sauce and plate the Spaghetti. Immediately top with Hot Spaghetti Meat Sauce and serve. Optionally garnish with Parsley and/or Basil. For some heat, a bit of Chili Flakes.