Pasta Al Limone is a fresh and zesty pasta dish from southern Italy. It simply needs a long noodle shaped pasta ( spaghetti, linguine etc.) lemon , butter, cream , Parmesan and seasonings!! But here ‘less is more’ as this fresh lemon sauce tastes absolutely divine and needs just 15-20 minutes to make! You will be puzzled by how good something this easy, with only handful of ingredients, can taste!!
There are many variations of this recipe! Some are cooked without cream, some use garlic while some cooks add basil or thyme in their recipe. I have kept the recipe as simple as possible, you can add herbs to your liking.
Try to use organic , untreated or unwaxed lemons for this recipe as the skin of other lemons have been treated with pesticides. Also, remove the white pith when you grate or peel the lemons as it has bitter flavour and it can spoil the flavour of sauce!
Cuisine: Italian Serves : 2 Course: Main
Ingredients:
- Spaghetti or other long pasta : 350 grams
- Butter: 4 tbsp
- Fresh double cream: 3/4 cup
- Lemon: 1
- Salt : according to taste
- Black pepper: freshly ground, according to taste
- Parmesan: 3/4 cup, grated finely
- Red chilli flakes: according to taste
Method:
- Remove two 2 ” strips of lemon zest, using a vegetable peeler. Thinly slice each strip lengthwise into thin strands and keep them aside for serving.
- Finely grate remaining zest in a large and thick non stick pan . Slice the lemon in half, then squeeze the lemon to yield 2 tbsp of juice in a small bowl. Keep it aside.
- Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and add 1 tbsp salt to it. When the water is boiling add pasta and cook it according to package instructions. Save 1.5 cups of pasta cooking liquid in a bowl.
- Now , add cream to the non stick pan with lemon zest and cook on medium heat, stirring continuously for 2 minutes.
- When the cream starts to simmer, reduce heat to medium low and add butter, 1 tbsp at a time. Keep stirring .
- When the butter is melted and sauce is creamy, add 3/4 cup of pasta cooking liquid to the sauce.
- Use tongs to transfer pasta to the cooking sauce, allowing some of the pasta cooking water to come with it.
- Now, add Parmesan little by little and keep tossing the spaghetti , until cheese is melted and sauce is creamy, approximately 3 minutes.
- If the sauce becomes too tight and dry at any time, add more pasta cooking water to loosen it sufficiently.
- Stir in reserved lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.
- Serve the spaghetti right away, topping it with reserved strips of lemon zest and chilli flakes.
- Enjoy!!
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