Pasta With Brown Butter, Cinnamon, Almonds, and Goat Cheese Recipe

When I moved to the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago five years ago, the area had yet to be completely and totally saturated with bars and restaurants and breweries and distilleries. But it had Lula Cafe, and even after all these years, the restaurant is still as relevant (and packed) as ever. Part of that is due to the fact that it's the rare kind of place that is both funky and serious about its food, regardless of whether you want a six-course vegetarian tasting menu or a simple sandwich. One of the staples is a simple noodle dish called pasta yia yia, which features long and hollow tubes of pasta tossed with brown butter, cinnamon, and goat cheese. It's essentially spruced-up mac and cheese—creamy and comforting, with interesting spices going on.

I never thought of making it because, well, I just live around the corner from Lula. But then my mom got me a package of maccheroncelli—the same kind of pasta that Lula uses for the dish—so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

I had all kinds of ideas of how to make this recipe my own, but all the embellishments felt forced, so I stripped almost all of them away. I only had one true insight, and that was to add slivered almonds. They're toasted with the brown butter, adding a much-needed crunch to each bite. I also gave it a squeeze of lemon to help brighten things up. I, of course, forgot to add the goat cheese before taking the photo, and then ate all the pasta before I realized the mistake. I hope you'll forgive me.