Brown Butter Spaghetti With Greek (Mizithra) Cheese

Lizzie-Babette's Note:

I remember this as being the de facto side dish, with a salad, to any lamb dish I had growing up, in my Greek grandparents' house. I make it quite often, and have never had a recipe, so beware, the measurements may be a bit off. I sometimes don't add the garlic and oregano, but they do add a nice zing to the dish.

• Total Time: 25 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1/2 cup grated mizithra cheese
• 8 ounces spaghetti
• 4 tablespoons butter (do not substitute margarine, or to taste)
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic (optional)
• 2 teaspoons oregano (optional)
• fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Cook spaghetti until al dente.
2. Drain spaghetti and leave in colander or drainer.
3. Put butter (and garlic and oregano, if using) into hot pan and put it back on the burner, making sure heat is medium to medium-high.
4. Stirring constantly, cook butter until it's a nice, light to medium brown.
5. Remove pan from heat.
6. Quickly return spaghetti to pan, turning to coat the strands with the butter; the spaghetti should glisten with the light coating of butter.
7. At this point, you can add a bit more butter if you like.
8. Once butter coats spaghetti, add cheese and mix well, so that bits of the mizithra are sticking to the spaghetti evenly.
9. Grind a bit of pepper over the dish and mix again.
10. Serve with extra mizithra and pepper.

Reviews

[stacylu]

YUM!!! This is like Spaghetti Factory's dish that I've been missing. I didn't have spaghetti noodles so I used 12 oz penne and doubled the amount of garlic because I love it. I think I ended up using 5 Tbs of butter when it was done. The oregano, garlic, and cheese taste so good together. Thank you for this recipe, it hit the spot tonight!

[Cloudtears]

This one is a favorite at my house. I have found that Myzithra (correct spelling) is sometimes difficult to find unless you have a good cheese and wine store available to you. I have found it at Safeways. The best source I have found is at Igourmet.com. http://www.igourmet.com/shoppe.asp?cat=1&subcat=ALL+Grating I don't consider the garlic an option for this recipe. Without it, you just totally miss the whole taste treat. BethT, thanks for sharing this one.

[Chef #355268]

The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars was because I changed it because I ended up being out of oregano after I started it. I added SAGE! You must try this, it was one of the most delicious things I've ever tasted. As for saturated fats, do some more research, they're not as bad for you as everyone seems to think right now.