Roasted radish brown butter pasta
This simple spring pasta dish with roasted radish brown butter is a little different and a wonderful way to use up radishes! It only requires a few ingredients, resulting in a creamy, nutty brown butter sauce spiked with beautiful roasted radishes.
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If you’ve ever found yourself with a bunch of radishes and no idea what to do with them, consider this roasted radish and brown butter pasta your next logical move. Roasting the radishes results in a wonderful fork-tender texture, and that lovely pepperiness works in total harmony with brown butter and parmesan cheese – it’s kind of giving cacio e pepe, but prettier.
When I was visiting family in London earlier this year, I decided to start a recipe series that championed seasonal produce to inspire you to cook and eat more with the seasons. It was springtime, and one of the recipes I had been working on was a roasted radish and brown butter pasta sauce. But my time in London came and went, and I didn’t manage to finalise the recipe.
I arrived back to Australia coming into winter and so I have been patiently waiting 4 long months for radishes to come into season during our spring to bring you this dish. And here we are! I’m excited to share this recipe with you 🙂
Why you’ll love this pasta with roasted radish and brown butter
- Only 4 ingredients – radishes, butter, parmesan and pasta is all you need to make this delicious dish.
- Seasonal spring dish – makes excellent use of radishes which are in peak season during the spring months.
- The silkiest of sauces – reminiscent of cacio e pepe or traditional Italian-style alfredo – the butter emulsifies perfectly with pasta water and finely grated parmesan cheese.
- Easy and quick to make – no fancy techniques required, and it comes together in minutes once you’ve roasted the radishes.
Ingredients you’ll need to make this roasted radish and brown butter pasta
- Pasta – I like to use orecchiette for this dish because I think the shape is perfect for holding the radishes and the butter sauce. You can make fresh orecchiette using my semolina pasta dough recipe, or your favorite store-bought option!
- Radishes – washed, trimmed and cut into quarters.
- Olive oil – for roasting the radishes, along with a good pinch of salt.
- Unsalted butter – I like to allow 50g (3.5 tbsp) per person when making any sort of butter sauce.
- Parmesan cheese – preferably a young parmigiano reggiano, I like to use 12-18 month aged cheese here.
- Black pepper – the perfect addition just before serving! When you roast radishes, it mellows their flavour a touch, so I like to add a crack of black pepper to finish as a compliment.
How to make roasted radish brown butter pasta
1. Prepare the radishes
Wash, trim and quarter the radishes, before tossing in olive oil with a good pinch of salt on a baking tray. You’ll roast them for about 30 minutes until tender before setting aside.
2. Brown the butter
While your pasta is cooking, start browning the butter. Add unsalted butter to a sauteuse style pan and melt over a low-medium heat. Use a whisk to evenly distribute the milk solids, and cook stirring frequently until the butter foams and splutters. Once the spluttering sound stops, that’s your brown butter ready! Remove from the heat to prevent the milk solids from burning.
3. Add the radishes
Add the roasted radishes to the brown butter and toss to coat.
4. Combine with the pasta and cheese
Finally add the cooked pasta, some pasta water and the grated parmesan cheese – tossing and stirring vigorously to marry and emulsify the sauce.
Tips and tricks for making the most perfect butter sauce
This butter sauce is an emulsion, which is where we have two or more liquids that would not usually mix together, forced into a stable suspension through agitation. In this instance, it’s our butter, parmesan and pasta water that creates the emulsion. There are a couple of things that you can do to help form the perfect, stable sauce.
- Cut the heat – once the butter has sufficiently browned, remove the pan from the heat. By removing the pan from the heat you’ll not only prevent the brown butter from becoming burnt, but you’ll also reduce the heat in the pan which will allow you to emulsify the cheese in the butter without it becoming clumpy.
- Pasta water is your friend – this really is the magic ingredient with any sauce like this. Adding pasta water is what helps to create the emulsion, with the added starch from the pasta that’s cooked in it helping to create a creamy consistency. When in doubt, add a splash of water.
- Movement is key – agitating the butter/cheese/water combo is what will create the emulsion. It’s important to move the pan in the sauce vigorously and quickly – you can use a spoon to stir while simultaneously shaking the pan, as well as toss the pasta in the pan repeatedly to help form the emulsion. I love using a sauteuse pan for this exact reason – the high curved sides really lend itself to this kind of movement!
FAQs about this dish
1. How long can this pasta be stored once it’s cooked?
Ideally you’ll eat this right away, but if you’d like to store it, it will last for 2-3 days in the fridge. Note that as it’s a butter based sauce, it will solidify when refrigerated, so I highly recommend you reheat it for the best consistency.
2. How can I reheat this sauce?
I like to place it in a pan over a low heat, with a little splash of water to help loosen the sauce and re-emulsify.
3. Do I have to use orecchiette?
I think orecchiette is the perfect vessel for this sauce, however it would work with any shape to be honest! Though I think choosing a short pasta shape that can hold the sauce and those little quarters of radish are ideal – if you can’t find orecchiette, conchiglie (shells) would be perfect!
I hope you love this simple, spring pasta dish! If you’re looking for some other pasta inspiration, check out my classic carbonara, perfect zucchini sauce or for another spring dish there’s always my fennel risotto!
Roasted radish brown butter pasta
Ingredients
- 300 g orecchiette half a batch of my semolina pasta dough is perfect for this!
- 200 g radishes
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Salt
- 100 g unsalted butter
- 40 g parmesan grated (plus extra to serve)
- Pepper to serve
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180c/160c fan forced/350f
- Start by preparing the radishes – wash them well, then remove the tops and any roots then cut each radish into quarters and place on a baking tray.
- Drizzle with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and season with a good pinch of salt, then roast for approximately 30 minutes, stirring halfway through – set aside.
- Bring a pot of generously salted water to a rolling boil for the pasta and cook the pasta until al dente – according to packet instructions.
- In a separate pan (I like to use a sauteuse style pan for this), melt the butter over a low-medium heat and as it starts to splutter use a whisk to help evenly distribute the milk solids.
- Continue cooking and stirring until the butter foams up and starts to brown. When the spluttering sound stops, it you should be able to see the colour of the butter has changed to a lovely, golden brown. Pull the pan from the heat and add the roasted radishes.
- Once your pasta is al dente (if you make fresh pasta for this it will only take a couple of minutes, so put it on as the butter is browning!), use a slotted spoon to add it directly to the butter pan, along with some of the pasta water. Give it a vigorous stir to create an emulsion with the brown butter and pasta water, then sprinkle over the cheese. Stir and toss the pan vigorously to help emulsify and melt the cheese into the sauce – it’s important that you don’t do this over direct heat as it will cause the cheese to become lumpy and stringy. Add more pasta water as needed to help the sauce form.
- Serve with freshly cracked black pepper and an extra sprinkle of parmesan.
