Turning up this week in Fresh Market’s dairy case after a long absence is rich, luxurious Parmigiano-Reggiano butter. This is not, as you might be thinking, butter mixed with Parmesan cheese—it’s a sumptuous byproduct of the Parmigiani cheese-maker’s art.

The famed cheese that carries the same name is created from a blend of evening and morning milk from cows that are allowed to graze naturally and are not milked continuously, but only twice a day.

The morning milk is added whole, but the night milk is skimmed. When it’s delivered to the dairy, it’s piped into stainless steel troughs and left to stand overnight so that the cream rises to the top. The next morning, the milk is drained from the bottom of the trough into large, cone-shaped copper kettles where the curd for the cheese is cooked and formed. As soon as cream begins to appear in the pipe, the valve is shut off, and what’s left behind in the trough is reserved for one of the world’s richest and best butters.

At $4.29 for an 8-ounce slab, it’s more than twice the cost of standard commercial butter, and almost a third more than that of most premium brands. That may not seem exactly cheap, but it works out to just under 27 cents per tablespoon serving—definitely an affordable luxury.

In our country, especially during tight economic times such as these, value tends to be tied solely to cost, a serious miscalculation.

If you asked the average American which was the best value, a plate of artisan pasta, carefully cooked and tossed with a sauce made from scratch and sprinkled with well-aged Parmigiano cheese, or an indifferently prepared and served all-you-can-eat “Italian” buffet for the same price, most would choose the buffet, because it was more quantity for the money.

That may seem like common sense, but it’s flawed thinking on just about every level. No self-respecting Italian would make the same choice. That’s not to say that they’re any less frugal than Americans, but they don’t measure value strictly by cost and quantity. Quality is an equally important consideration.

Think about it: if you walk—or rather, waddle—away from a meal miserable and bloated because you wanted to get your money’s worth, vaguely dissatisfied because the food was at best mediocre, less than well nourished despite overeating because your money’s worth was of inferior food stripped of its best flavor and nutrition by indifferent handling, and settle in for an uncomfortable evening of bad digestion and vague perplexity over why you’re getting fat, have you really gotten full value for your money?

No, you haven’t.

If, however, you walk away from the meal satisfied in body and spirit, having enjoyed every mouthful to the last, filled without being bloated, well-nourished because the food was of the best quality available thoughtfully and carefully prepared, and settle in for an evening of pleasant conversation because your mind is satisfied and clear—and not weighted down by indigestion—why, then, my friends, you have gotten full value for your money.

In that light, a luxury that’s a mere 27-cents a serving may be one of the best values around.

Parmigiano-Reggiano is a finishing butter—not one to use for baking or routine, everyday cooking. In Parma, one of the most common—and best possible—sauces for pasta is a silken coating of this butter paired with freshly grated Parmigiano cheese. A couple of tablespoons added to the bowl when saucing pasta with classic pesto alla genovese is a revelation.

It need not, however, be limited to noodles. It makes fresh summer vegetables positively sing: lightly steam or boil them and toss with a couple of pats until the butter is just melted—or, if the vegetable is really delicate, barely melt the butter and drizzle it over them. It’s so rich that a generous tablespoon will do for 4 servings. Let a small pat melt over each serving of grilled vegetables, fish, or meat or use it to make herb butter for steaks, grilled pork, and chicken.

If you’re worried about calories, cholesterol, and saturated fat grams, you need to know that one pat of butter a couple of times a week is not going to send you into coronary arrest. If you have a genuine problem with cholesterol, perhaps you should be looking at your overall diet and lifestyle instead of laying all the blame on a very small square of luxury and flavor.

Besides, since fat carries both flavor and some essential vitamins, and is an important trigger that tells our brains when we’re satisfied and need to stop eating, a little bit of it is a necessary part of a healthy diet.

Wouldn’t you rather that little bit be something natural, pure, and flavorful instead of something that was engineered in a lab?

How To Sauce Pasta with Parmigiano Butter and Cheese

You’ll need a generous tablespoon of butter, cut up into small pieces, and about ¼ cup of freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for each serving. If you’re bad a math, 4 generous tablespoons and a cup of grated cheese will sauce pasta for four. Before draining the pasta, reserve a little of the cooking water. Don’t over-drain—use a perforated colander, not a wire mesh one—and immediately turn the pasta into a bowl. Scatter the butter over it, toss, add half the cheese and toss again until it is melted into the pasta. If needed, add a few spoonfuls of the reserved cooking water to keep it creamy. Sprinkle the top lightly with cheese and serve, passing the remaining cheese separately.

If you’re saucing a stuffed pasta such as ravioli or tortellini, barely melt the butter and layer the pasta on a serving platter, napping each layer with a drizzle of butter and light sprinkling of cheese.