I always start my sautes with crushed garlic in olive oil. Once in a while oil does not agree with my mood, so I switch to butter. Sometimes, for the purported health benefits, I melt a 50/50 blend of olive oil and butter, on the "I'm in a butter mood" nights. Garlic is a must-have for my sautes. In my twenties, it was onion and garlic, but for some reason onion doesn't agree with my taste buds so much anymore except raw in salad, or roasted with meats.

Using the garlic and oil or butter I make my own shrimp scampi, clam sauce, red sauces, bean sauces (kidney beans of any color are divine this way) and toss said sauces over almost any kind of pasta I have on hand. My favorite pasta is linguine - it's flat, thin, has perfect bite and holds the silky sauces well.

That's my two cents. :)