Changes in Light, Trying New things, and Laminated Sage and Yarrow Pasta With Vegan Browned Butter
This autumnal pasta will have you swooning! It’s comfort food at its finest, full of flavors from the woods and meadows.
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Do you see it? The change in the light? With the arrival of fall, the sunlight changes, the colors of the landscape echoing its’ shift. In late summer it is a powerful warm orange, almost apricot at times (depending on the wildfire smoke in the air.) But after the rains come, the nights grow, and the earth tilts just a bit further away from that life-giving inferno, the light becomes more delicate.
Sometimes it feels like warm custard, other times aged parchment. It’s far less golden as it shines through the remaining leaves and illuminates a fertile world of the last of the harvest. I start to notice it more and more, streaming through curtains or illuminating clearings in the dense forest. This is a playful light, one that hides and then bursts forth. Seeing a sun ray perfectly illuminate the patch of sage in my neighbor’s garden is what inspired this delicious dish: sage and wild yarrow are laminated between thin layers of pasta dough, then served with a plant-based browned butter sauce and delicious morel mushrooms and toasted pine nuts.
If you’ve never made pasta before, this dish may seem intimidating. But making pasta is a deeply enjoyable process and much easier than you might think! In fact, this is the first time I’ve ever made laminated pasta but I did so rather fearlessly because I trusted that no matter what happened, it was still going to taste delicious. New things excite me. New challenges are not obstacles but invitations. I particularly love this quote by Vincent Van Gogh:
“I am ALWAYS doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it.”
It seems so straightforward, and yet I think many people don’t realize that the way to do something well is to just try to do it in the first place. Take that first step. Hunt for a pasta machine in thrift stores or buy a new one, trusting that you are fully capable of being a pasta MASTER! (Or at least having lots of fun learning how to use it.) Then, impress your family or friends with an elegant dish that looks like ribbons of early fall sunbeams tossed together with umami-rich, juicy morel mushrooms.
Laminated Sage and Yarrow Pasta with Vegan Browned Butter and Morels
Morels aren’t a fall mushroom, but I always try to dry some in the spring because they rehydrate beautifully for fall and winter dishes! They act as perfect little sponges to soak up flavors. Morels and browned butter are an absolute dream! And speaking of… as I learned from this great vegan blog, you can actually make delightful browned butter from plant-based sources! The important thing to understand is that you need a combination of fat, protein, and sugar to achieve the Maillard reaction that gives browned butter its signature depth of flavor. Most store bought vegan butters don’t have enough proteins, but you can make your own plant-based butter quite easily that browns up wonderfully. You can also use a high-quality olive oil in place of the butter in the pasta recipe, though the flavor won’t be quite as deep.
Laminated Sage and Yarrow Pasta:
This pasta is full of autumnal flavor on its own, and becomes truly special with the browned butter sauce. The semolina flour and bread flour are both high in protein, which helps the gluten to develop to make a stronger, stretchier dough that can encase the herbs perfectly. The nutritional yeast adds flavor and a light golden color to this vegan pasta, but it also helps with the elasticity. Make sure you gather your herbs fresh soon before making the pasta. Also, this kind of pasta would be really difficult to make without a pasta machine, so I recommending finding/buying/borrowing one. This would be a great dinner party dish. Have your guests help you make the pasta - it’s a fun process, and the more hands the better! (Just make sure you make the butter first so it has time to set up in the fridge overnight or for at least a couple of hours.)
Ingredients:
1 c. semolina flour
1 ½ c. OO flour (or fine bread flour)
2 Tbs. nutritional yeast
¾ c. water
½ Tbs. sea salt
About 2 c each of fresh sage leaves and fresh yarrow leaves
Clean spray bottle filled with water
Directions:
Whisk together the flours and yeast. In another bowl, dissolve the sea salt in the water.
Make a well in the flour mixture and use a fork to start stirring in the water, a little at a time, until a stiff dough forms. (If your climate is dry, you may need to add a little more water. If it’s humid, a little less.)
Knead the dough until it is smooth and a little satiny. It should spring back when you poke it.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and allow to rest at room temperature for half an hour. This allows the gluten to relax a little so it rolls out better.
While the dough is resting, bring a small pot of water to boil. Remove the sage leaves from any tough stems, then add the yarrow and sage leaves to the boiling water. Blanch for 20 seconds, then strain and place into an ice bath. Strain again and lay the leaves out to dry on paper towels.
After resting, the dough should feel smooth and should not spring back when poked. Divide your ball of dough into 3 equal segments. Keep the other two covered while you work with the first one.
Flatten the dough into a rectangle using your hands and pat with semolina flour to keep from sticking.
Roll it through the widest setting on the pasta machine, then fold in half and repeat. Do this a few times, or until the dough remains smooth. Then start progressing down through the settings on your pasta maker until the dough is translucent. Gently lay it out on a workspace dusted with semolina flour.
Lay out the herbs on ½ of the dough, then give that side a gentle misting of water. Fold the other half of the dough over the top, being careful not to trap any air bubbles.
Adjust your pasta machine so that it is 1 step wider than the thinness you rolled the dough to. Dust both sides of your laminated dough with semolina flour, then carefully and gently feed it back through the pasta machine.
Once your laminated pasta has been rolled through, dust both sides generously with semolina flour and roll it into a very loose cylinder. Cut 1” strips from the roll. Set aside.
Repeat the process with the other two balls of pasta dough and the remaining herbs.
Fill a large pot with water and add enough salt that it tastes like the ocean.
While the pot is heating up, work on the browned butter sauce below.
Once the big pot is boiling, unroll your strips of pasta and add them to the pot. Stir gently to keep the pasta from sticking together and cook until the noodles float to the top. (This happens pretty fast, around 5 - 10 minutes depending on the size of the pot.) Drain, then toss with the browned butter mixture. Serve hot.
Savory Plant-Based Butter:
Making homemade plant-based butter is surprisingly easy. The key ingredient is sunflower lecithin, which helps the liquids and fats emulsify to form a cohesive mixture. (You can find it at a health food store or online. If you do much vegan baking, it is worth keeping around!) This butter is extra creamy with a refreshing flavor thanks to a combination of cashews and pine nuts. I also added just a bit of white truffle olive oil, which can lend a surprisingly butter-like flavor to non-dairy dishes (I love it on popcorn with a bit of salt!) This recipe makes 2 cups, with some extra cashew and pine nut cream left over to stir into coffee or tea!
Ingredients:
¼ c. cashews
¼ c. pine nuts
2 c. water
1 ½ c. melted refined coconut oil
3 Tbs. sunflower oil
1 tsp. White truffle-infused olive oil
½ tsp. Sea salt
2 tsp. Sunflower lecithin.
Directions:
Add the cashews, pine nuts, and water to a high-speed blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Set aside 1 ½ c. of this mixture for another use, leaving 1/2c. In the blender.
Add the rest of the ingredients to the blender and blend at medium speed for one minute, or until everything comes together into a cohesive mixture. Pour into silicone molds and refrigerate until the butter firms up.
Browned Butter Sauce:
Ingredients:
1 c. dried morels
½ c. vegan butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs. lemon juice
¼ c. white wine
¼ c. pasta water after cooking
Pepper and salt to taste
¼ c. toasted pine nuts
Directions:
Place the morels in a heat-proof bowl and top with boiling water. Let sit for 10 minutes to rehydrate.
Meanwhile, heat the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, swirling to move it around, until it starts to turn brown. Add the garlic and cook for a few seconds, then strain the morels and add them too.
Once the morels are slightly browned, add the lemon juice and wine. Add the pasta water and simmer until the sauce has slightly thickened. Add the pine nuts and remove from heat. After straining the pasta, add it to the saucepan and toss to coat, then serve hot.
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Join me for a little winter night magic as we bake this cake full of rich seasonal flavors and black cocoa!