A simple and flavorful pasta dish with crispy brown butter bread crumbs. Use any pasta shape you like!
Tear bread into pieces. Place in a food processor and pulse until you get medium ground bread crumbs. Some larger chunks are OK too. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, melt butter over med-low heat. Once melted, butter will bubble, foam, and become brown in color with little brown specs at the bottom of the pan. Once the butter is browned, stir in bread crumbs and garlic salt. Stir to coat, and continue to stir over med-low heat until breadcrumbs are toasted and crispy. Remove from heat, and transfer to a paper towel lined plate.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a generous amount of kosher salt. Cook pasta about 2 minutes UNDER al dente from package instructions. Pasta will finish cooking in the sauce. Do not drain, you'll use some pasta water, and transfer pasta right into sauce from boiling water.
In a large skillet, melt butter with olive oil, garlic, and shallot over medium heat, cook for about 2 minutes. Add about 1 cup of pasta water (from almost done pasta so you get the starchy water). Using a tongs or slotted spoon, transfer pasta into the butter sauce.
Stir in grated cheese, cream cheese, and juice and zest of 1 lemon. Stir until cheese is melted. Add additional pasta water as needed for moisture. Season with salt and pepper as desired. Add a pinch of red pepper flakes if you want a little heat.
Serve each portion with toasted brown butter bread crumbs and fresh parsley.
This recipe works great with any pasta type. For long pasta, spaghetti, linguine, fettuccini, or bucatini are great varieties. For short pasta, penne, rigatoni, fusilli, mafalda, or bowtie. Whatever is your fav!
Grilled chicken or shrimp would be delicious add-ins to this recipe, as well as spring vegetables like peas or asparagus.