Name: Egg Noodles with Caraway and Brown Butter
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 1 (12-ounce) bag egg noodles (see note); Salt; 4 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 4 pieces; 1 teaspoon caraway seeds, chopped (see note); 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill or chives

Why This Recipe Works

Instead of just dumping the caraway seeds onto cooked noodles for our recipe for Egg Noodles with Caraway and Brown Butter, we lightly chopped the seeds and toasted them with butter in the skillet. Browning some of the butter before stirring it in with the noodles contributed a nice nutty flavor, while adding the rest of the butter cold kept the noodles creamy.

Before You Begin

Give the caraway seeds a gentle chop with a chef’s knife; it brings out their flavor and helps disperse them throughout the dish. The test kitchen’s favorite egg noodles are Light‘n Fluffy Wide Egg Noodles. Do not use dried dill or chives in this recipe; their dusty flavor spoils the noodles.

Instructions

COOK NOODLES Bring 4 quarts water to boil in Dutch oven. Add noodles and 1 tablespoon salt to boiling water and cook until al dente. Drain noodles and return to pot.

TOAST CARAWAY Meanwhile, melt 3 tablespoons butter in small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add caraway seeds and cook, swirling pan occasionally, until butter is nutty brown and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Add browned butter mixture, herbs, and remaining butter to pot with noodles and toss to combine. Season with salt. Serve.