Creamy Lemon Pasta

My husband and I recently met up with some good friends for a week of fun in the Rocky Mountains. One of the couples traveled there from their home in Tucson, Arizona. Lucky for them, they have a lemon tree that just finished producing the most deliciously tart yellow fruit. As usual, they harvested a huge box of this beautiful fruit and brought it with them to Colorado so they could share with the rest of us. I was sent home with a massive tote bag full of these beauties. So this week I’ll be finding all kind of ways to process the lemons.

Tonight I created my own version of lemon pasta. It’s amazingly easy. Doesn’t require many ingredients. As you know I believe the most delicious dishes come from using high quality, fresh ingredients that are combined in a way so that each ingredient is the star. True Italians source local, fresh ingredients and combine them in a simple way that ends up with some of the most flavorful dishes I have ever eaten. Keep it fresh when you can. Keep it simple. Keep it amazingly tasty.

Since it was just my husband and I for dinner, I made a half recipe…technically it should feed 4 people. However, this recipe doubles easily for a group of 8. Since my husband is a carnivore, I served the pasta alongside some baked chicken parmesan and a simple side salad of lettuce, cucumbers and tomato. However, I would be satisfied with a bowl of this creamy lemon pasta, lettuce salad and a glass of Italian wine. Buon Appetito!

Creamy Lemon Pasta

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Servings 4

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1/2 pound bucatini pasta or spaghetti
• 1 stick butter
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 medium lemon, zested and juiced
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup cream
• 1/2 cup fresh parmesan cheese, grated
• 1/2 cup fresh Italian flat leaf parsley, coarsely chopped

Instructions

 

• In a large stock pot filled with heavily salted water, bring to boil
• Place half a pound of pasta into pot, stir to make sure pasta doesn't stick
• Boil for 5 minutes
• Once the pasta has been boiling for 5 minutes, begin the sauce.
• In a deep skillet, melt butter over medium heat.
• Add garlic and cook for 1 minute
• Add lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper
• Cook for 2 minutes more
• Pasta should be about al dente at this point (7-8 minutes into cooking).
• Lift pasta from boiling water and place straight away into saucepan.
• Add 1/2 cup of pasta cooking liquid. Let simmer gently for a minute or two so the pasta can absorb the sauce.
• Turn off heat and add cream and cheese. Stir gently…adding more hot pasta water if the sauce is too thick.
• Place pasta in bowls and top with freshly chopped Italian parsley.

Notes

This recipe makes 4 servings.  You can easily double the recipe for 6-8 hungry guests.  I served this pasta with baked parmesan chicken breasts that I sliced and placed on top.  But it is such a rich dish that it would be satisfying to serve on its own with a nice salad and fresh bread.  

If  you haven’t learned the trick of using hot pasta water to thin out your sauces and keep them silky smooth, you need to do this.  I can’t tell you exactly how much hot pasta water to use.  It’s a matter of you watching the pasta and seeing how much sauce it absorbs as it continues to cook.  Add about 1/4 cup of hot pasta water at a time, stirring, adding more, stirring, until it gets to the consistency you want.  

True Italians always toss their pasta in the sauce.  This way the pasta actually absorbs the sauce into it as well as having extra sauce around it.  Italians do NOT put pasta in a bowl and drown it with sauce on top.  

 

Keyword Pasta, Lemon, Cream, Parmesan, Garlic, Butter

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