Mafalde Pasta with Butter and Parmesan

Mafalde pasta with butter and parmesan cheese. Pasta ribbons are tossed with butter, olive oil, black pepper and lots of parmesan for an incredibly simple comfort food recipe that’s ready in 10 minutes.

Ok, what is better than a big bowl of cheesy pasta goodness? When I need comfort food fast, nothing beats it. Mafalde pasta are long ruffled ribbons that are not only perfect for unlimited pasta sauces but they just happen to be so pretty too!

I first had this parmesan pasta dish a few years ago whilst on a holiday in Lake Como. It’s an absolutely gorgeous part of Italy and we spent our whole holiday eating, drinking and spending time on the beautiful lake.

We were out sight seeing one day and decided to look for somewhere to eat lunch. We done that thing where you walk around in circles trying to decide what restaurant looks best and then end up at the very first one you saw.  So as you can imagine we were so happy to be sitting down with a glass of vino gazing out at the lake waiting on our food.

I ordered what I thought would be a very simple, rustic dish and of course it is just that but the way it came out astounded me to the point of it being one of my most memorable meals I’ve ever had!

Suddenly a whole, slightly hollowed out parmesan cheese was getting wheeled over on a trolly to our table. First of all I couldn’t stop staring at the enormous round parmesan, the smell was incredible….I totally want one.

The waitress had a bowl of freshly cooked mafalde pasta and added it to the whole parmesan. With two forks she hacked at the parmesan cheese creating course breadcrumbs, coating the pasta as she went. Now let me tell you there was a TON of parmesan covering this pasta. Straight onto my plate it went with a dusting of black pepper.

It honestly tasted like heaven, strong, salty and buttery cheese with perfectly cooked al dente ribbons of pasta. I couldn’t stop talking about it all day and knew it was something I had to recreate at home.

We’ve made this pasta with butter and parmesan so many times now and whenever we’re too tired to cook it’s one of our go to meals. I always have pasta in my cupboards and butter and parmesan in my fridge and of course a good quality olive oil so it’s always so easy to whip up and always delicious.

I hope you enjoy this one as much as I do!

For more simple pasta recipes try;

• Farfalle pasta with pancetta, chili and garlic
• Creamy roasted fennel pasta
• Bucatini with roasted red pepper cream sauce
• Creamy sausage linguine
• Speck and mushroom pappardelle

If you’ve tried this pasta with butter and parmesan or any other recipe on the blog please let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST to see more delicious food and what I’m getting up to.

5 from 4 votes

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Mafalde Pasta with Butter and Parmesan

Mafalde pasta with butter and parmesan cheese. Incredibly easy comfort food that's ready in 10 minutes. Grated parmesan, black pepper, butter.

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: 4 people

Calories: 544 kcal

Author: Emily Kemp

Ingredients

• 13 oz (380g) mafalde pasta ribbons
• 1 1/2 cups (150g) parmesan cheese
• 1 knob of butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 pinch black pepper

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and boil according to packet instructions until al dente. Meanwhile, grate the parmesan with a fork to resemble large crumbs (it doesn't matter if there are some larger crumbs)

2. Add the butter and olive oil to a large bowl. Once the pasta is cooked transfer it from the boiling water with a spaghetti spoon to the bowl draining off any excess water.

3. Toss the pasta in the butter and parmesan until it's completely coated and the butter has melted. Leave the pasta to cool for 1 minute then add the parmesan. Toss the pasta until evenly coated add a pinch of black pepper and serve.

Recipe Notes

Please note this recipe was tested and developed using metric measurements all imperial measurements are approximate.