Give Pasta Bold Fall Flavor By Adding This One Herb

As the weather cools, cozy dishes like a bowl of pasta become even more enticing. Chefs point to herbs as an easy way to make simple pasta taste more expensive, but there's a world of flavor to be had beyond a mere flourish of basil or oregano. For pasta dishes that give depth, undeniable flavor, and a wonderful aroma with a singular addition of greenery, look no farther than sage.

Sage is easily available in the fresh produce aisle, and it offers a minty, slightly pepper, earthy, and almost woodsy notes. Its signature taste practically screams autumn and pairs like a house on fire with veggies like squash, pumpkin, and even mushrooms. What's more, the flavor of sage is easily infused into more than one type of pasta sauce. You can toast sage in butter on the stovetop and add that to an Alfredo sauce, or cook it into a nutty brown butter sauce. You can also just mince sage and combine it as a secret ingredient in any store-bought tomato sauce for a dish that feels more special.

To go even further, fry whole sage leaves for a few seconds until they darken slightly (be careful as they can splatter), let them drain on paper towels, and use them to garnish your finished pasta dish. To really gild the lily, scatter a few toasted walnuts over the top for an added crunch and a pleasant bitter note that complements the sage. Or, finish with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese that rounds out sage's flavors with a hit of richness and salinity.

While cooking with fresh sage is ideal since the flavors feel more vegetal and at their peak, you can also use the dried variety, but take care since it does have a stronger taste. You should also incorporate dried sage early on during the cooking process as you make your sauce, as opposed to use as a garnish, so it can rehydrate and properly diffuse its flavor. 

Once you've realized how much of a game changer sage can be, the sky's the pasta limit. Many grocery stores even offer fresh seasonal stuffed pastas like roasted pumpkin or porcini mushroom ravioli that positively glow-up with the sage treatment. You may just find yourself making sage a part of every pasta night, but no one's complaining.