If you ask us, Jennifer Garner’s Pretend Cooking Show never gets old. Whether she’s sharing her family cornbread recipe, baking a batch of gingersnaps or showing us how to make ingenious frozen yogurt bark, we’ll always pause our never-ending scroll to watch her in action (and to creep on her stunning kitchen). Her latest installment? Brown butter and sage pasta, inspired by the Apple TV+ book-to-series show The Last Thing He Told Me, which she stars in.
Jennifer Garner’s Brown Butter & Sage Pasta Will Be Your Go-To Alfresco Dinner This Summer
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Published May 12, 2023
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“Sometimes, during a quiet take on #TheLastThingHeToldMe set last summer, chunks of @lauradaveauthor’s book played back in my mind like an inner monologue,” Garner wrote in the Instagram video’s caption. “I really love her writing (although I edited the heck out of this scene here, pardon me, Queen). And, not for nothing, I really love this @poggiotrattoria-inspired pasta, which is ready in the time it takes to prepare the noodles.” (FYI, the Poggio Trattoria that she tagged in the post is a restaurant in Northern Italy, but a restaurant of the same name is credited for the pasta in The Last Thing He Told Me.)
She reads an excerpt from the book that mentions the pasta as she prepares it, the reading serving as the soundtrack for this Pretend Cooking Show installment. As if Garner wasn’t endearing enough, she also heads to her backyard garden by lantern light to pick fresh sage for the sauce—how very Ina Garten of her.
The pasta only requires seven ingredients, including salt and pepper. The trickiest part is browning the butter without burning it, but the rest is a cinch. And as she mentioned, it comes together in mere minutes, so you’ll have plenty of time to tune into The Last Thing He Told Me after dinner (or better yet, during).
Here’s the full recipe for Hannah’s Brown Butter & Sage Pasta, named for Garner’s character on the show:
Ingredients
- ½ pound linguine
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 12 fresh sage leaves
- Juice of ½ lemon
- ¾ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, for serving
Directions
Step 1: Cook the linguine according to package instructions. Drain, reserving ½ cup of pasta water. Return the linguine to the pot.
Step 2: In a medium skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the sage leaves. Cook until the butter browns and the sage becomes almost crispy, about 7 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice.
Step 3: Add the butter to the linguine and toss to coat.
Step 4: Stir in the pasta water. Cook over medium heat until the water is absorbed. Stir in the cheese, salt and pepper, seasoning to taste.
Taryn Pire is PureWow’s associate food editor. A former bartender and barista, she’s been writing about all things delicious since 2016, developing recipes, reviewing restaurants and investigating food trends at Food52, New Jersey Family Magazine and Taste Talks. When she isn’t testing TikTok’s latest viral recipe, she’s having popcorn for dinner and posting about it on Instagram @cookingwithpire.
