A Taste of Italian Childhood: 15 min Pasta al Burro e Parmigiano

Plus: crunchy green garlic scapes and Grana Padano

Jun 16, 2024

Ciao friends!

This week’s recipe is a brilliant and easy entry into the world of Italian childhood or Italian cooking. It’s made in every Italian’s home and is available at any ristorante, trattoria, or osteria but is rarely actually listed on the menu. This week, you get a taste of growing up Italiano!

Pasta in bianco is one of the ultimate Italian comfort foods and is commonly made for Italian children. This 15-minute, 3 ingredient pasta is the security blankie or woobie of Italian pastas. A mamma will make it for their child who’s not feeling well; a nonna might make it on the fly for a grandchild who really doesn’t want the carne bollito the rest of the family is eating. Pasta in bianco is also an always available “backup” meal at school if a child has an allergy to the scheduled meal or simply refuses to eat the school’s sogliola fish i.e. my son in Italian elementary school.

The pasta used in pasta in bianco could be nearly any shape from spaghetti to penne or fusilli which is tossed in the bowl with butter and/or extra virgin olive oil then sprinkled with Parmigiano Reggiano. It’s that simple. No cooking of the ‘sauce’. It’s savory, salty, umami, and carbohydrate happiness in a pasta bowl.

My son and I arrived in Indiana last week to see family and have already made this pasta twice for our American taste-testing family to full bellies and ecstatic reviews! You can jump right to the recipe below or join me at the local farmer’s market to find out how to level-up this simple pasta with a special seasonal prize. Let the American summer vacation begin!

My mom took me to her local Coffee Creek farmer’s market where we discovered the subtle perfume and delicate flavor of garlic scapes. They are the ‘long green shoots that grow from the garlic bulb’ which are a delicacy all on their own. (2) The scape farmer suggested chopping them up as a salad topper, which we did. It added a lovely mild garlic crunch. But then my mom went rogue and threw them on her pasta in bianco. The scapes BROUGHT IT to the pasta in bianco, taking it to another level by heightening the butter with garlic flavor and surprising texture. This will be an easy meal on repeat for our holiday!

fresh garlic scapes from the Indiana farmer’s market are called *talli d’aglio* in Italian

Butter or oil?

Pasta in bianco translates to ‘white pasta’. In the Como area of northern Italy it is also commonly called ‘pasta al burro e parmigiano’. However, if it’s made in the south or by any southern Italian in the north of Italy, it will almost certainly be made with extra virgin olive oil instead of butter. This is because of what I call the geographical butter/oil line in Italy which is somewhere south of Milan/Torino and north of Abbruzzo. In a casual survey of 20 or so mom friends from all regions, my amiche from Abbruzzo and further south, including Puglia, Calabria, and Sicily say they don’t even have butter at home unless making risotto.

‘Perche sai che siamo meridionale. Usiamo burro solo per il risotto.’ - Sabrina di Abbruzzo
Fusilli bucati corti in bianco; notice how the ‘sauce’ isn’t blended or fully melted, adding interesting texture to the dish

I’d love to hear more about where you or your Italian family are from in the comments!

Grana or Parmigiano?

Many households in Italy use the words “Parmigiano” or “Grana” interchangeably, always referring to the grated cheese that they use on their pasta as ‘Grana’ when in fact it is Parmigiano or ‘Parmigiano’ when in fact what they buy and use is Grana.

In fact, for taste or cost reasons, you may want to consider using Grana Padano instead of Parmigiano Reggiano, and even more fun, do a tasting of the two!

I’m not gonna lie; they are both delicious.

Both are made from raw cow milk that has been grass-fed; Parmigiano cows are 100% grass fed where Grana cows are fed 50% grass and 50% grain matter.
Parmigiano is aged for a minimum of 12 months while grana is aged for a minimum of 9 months.
Both are Protected Destination of Origin (PDO) cheeses which must comply to strict production methods as well as geographic location requirements. (3)

Grana is a bit sweeter and a bit creamier whereas Parmigiano is a bit more crumbly with more crystallization. We are a Parmigiano home, but I accidentally snagged a Grana Padano sotto vuoto for this trip!

Check out the other treats from the farmer's market: asaparagus, organic strawberries, green onions, and salad turnips, mostly from Michigan as we’re near the Indiana-Michigan border. The strawberries were exploding with summery sweet juice and the salad turnips tasted like a combination of jicama crunch and mild radishes. What a joy!

Coffee Creek farmer's market: asparagus, strawberries, sunflowers, salad turnips, and green onions

Ready? Let’s make this 15 minute, 3-ingredient big, warm hug of a pasta dish.

pst! Scroll to the very bottom to download recipe pdf!

Pasta with butter and parmigiano

Pasta in Bianco

FOR 4 PEOPLE

The ingredients

60g / 4 Tbls Butter
360-400 g pasta (nearly any pasta will do! Spaghetti, linguine, fusilli, penne See more in notes below.)
Extra-virgin olive oil, to taste

The method

1) Fill a big tall pot with water and salt and set on high heat stove burner. Taste the water to make sure it’s salty like the sea (as and add more salt if needed).

2) Divide the butter into individual pasta bowls and slice it into smaller pieces so it will melt more quickly.

3) Grate the parmigiano

4) When the water boils, add the pasta and cook to the package time (al dente), stirring occasionally.

5) Strain and immediately distribute pasta to the individual bowls and use 2 forks to toss, melting the butter. Once the pasta is evenly coated, sprinkle with grated parmigiano and stir for a few seconds. Note: this does not make a ‘sauce’ but sticks the the pasta. Taste. If you feel it’s a bit dry, add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and stir again.

Buon appetito!

Serving tips:

Serve with a small bowl of extra grated parmigiano reggiano for those who want to add more
If it seems too dry, add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and stir. This adds another layer of depth and flavor.
If you have garlic scapes, try cutting them up into tiny slices of 1/2 cm, toss them on your pasta in bianco for a gentle green garlicky crunch that sings with the butter and umami of the cheese.

Notes:

Salt: It’s important not to skimp. This salted water is adding a layer of flavor to your pasta and is critical to this dish.

Pasta: you can use almost ANY pasta: spaghetti, linguine, fusilli, penne, even mini-pasta like ditalini or orzo. The only pasta I wouldn’t recommend would be the giant pastas like … I’m sure it would still taste amazing, but it would be more difficult to coat the surface of the pasta with butter and cheese. This is a simple pasta; keep it simple!

To pasta water or not to pasta water, that is the question! Strangely I see recipes all over the internet adding pasta water to pasta in bianco to make it more ‘saucy’ but interviewing about 20 moms from all regions of Italy, none of them add pasta water to pasta in bianco and certainly I never have. The butter or oil coats the pasta, then the parmigiano melts and coats it. This is simple perfection.