Recipe

Grown-Up Buttered Noodles

Name: Grown-Up Buttered Noodles
Yield: 4 Servings
Ingredients: 1 lb. mafalda corte, reginette, or other short pasta; 10 tbsp. cold salted butter, cubed; 1 tbsp. olive oil; 10 garlic cloves, thinly sliced; 8 anchovy fillets; 1 cup white wine; Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper; Finely grated Parmesan, for serving; Basil, for garnishing (optional)

Garlic, white wine, and a hint of umami from anchovies kick up the childhood comfort food in a new cookbook all about butter

Recipe by Anna Stockwell

March 12, 2026

Photo: Kate S. Jordan

I don’t know a single child who doesn’t love a bowl of warm, buttered pasta—a dish that’s simple, satisfying, recognizable, safe, and comforting. This is my grown-up version, full of lusty garlic and anchovies in a butter sauce built on a white wine reduction. It’s the dinner I make when there’s “nothing to eat” in the house or when I just need my dinner to feel like a hug. For the best buttery sauce, be sure to add your butter and hot pasta cooking water bit by bit to help form the emulsion, like the process used when making beurre blanc.—Anna Stockwell, The Butter Book

Read our Q&A with the author about the new cookbook, a celebration of all things butter.

Grown-Up Buttered Noodles

Yield: 4 Servings

Ingredients

- 1 lb. mafalda corte, reginette, or other short pasta
- 10 tbsp. cold salted butter, cubed
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 10 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 8 anchovy fillets
- 1 cup white wine
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Finely grated Parmesan, for serving
- Basil, for garnishing (optional)

Preparation

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta to al dente according to the package instructions. Drain the pasta, reserving 2 cups of the pasta cooking water.
While the pasta is cooking, in a large, deep skillet over medium heat, melt 2 tbsp. of the butter with the olive oil. Add the garlic and anchovies and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the anchovies are mostly melted and the garlic is beginning to lightly brown. Pour in the wine, increase the heat to medium-high, and scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the skillet into the wine. Continue to cook until the wine is reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, add a few cubes of the butter, and stir until a smooth sauce begins to form.
Add the cooked pasta to the garlic butter sauce along with ½ cup of the pasta cooking water and a few more cubes of butter. Stir until the butter is melted, then stir in more butter and more pasta cooking water, adding both in small doses until all the butter has been added and your pasta is coated with a smooth and rich sauce. (I just add splashes of the pasta water, but if you want to measure, use ¼ cup at a time.) You may not use all the pasta cooking water, but you’ll need at least 1½ cups to achieve the glossiest sauce.
Season with salt and pepper. Divide the pasta among bowls and serve with Parmesan sprinkled on top. Garnish with a few basil leaves (if you wish).

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