Simple Additions to Pasta with Butter or Olive Oil

Many of the best pasta sauces are made by adding one or more simple ingredients to cooked pasta that has simply been tossed with butter or olive oil. Much of the time, these ingredients can be tossed raw with the cooked pasta. Other ingredients, such as garlic or sage, may also be gently cooked first in the butter or olive oil before being tossed with the pasta. Remember, however, that extra-virgin olive oil should be cooked very gently so that its perfume isn’t destroyed by the heat. The creamy texture of sweet butter is also lost when the butter is overheated rather than simply allowed to melt on the pasta. However, butter can be cooked to the noisette stage (until lightly browned) before being tossed with the pasta (see Pasta with Butter and Sage).