Spaghetti al Limone

A classic Italian flavor that you may not often associate with Italian cooking is lemon.  Lemon in cookies, in pastries, lemon cakes, lemon fish, if there is a place to use lemon, we Italians will use it.  Oddly, I do not care for a lemon meringue pie.  Perhaps I have just never had a really good one.  I am picky about my meringues, and my pies.

Trying to keep things light and having a pantry that is full, but nothing defrosted from the freezer I remembered the spaghetti al limone (Spaghetti with Lemon Sauce) I had loved years ago.  Most Italians that make this light and refreshing dish make the sauce in a bowl, using a no cook method.  I personally prefer the stove top to cook the garlic and help thicken the sauce.

I hope you enjoy it!  We did.  Em and I couldn't get enough.  Mr. W doesn't care for olive oil as much as Em and I do.

Spaghetti al Limone
1 pound spaghetti
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
2 garlic cloves, ground on microplane or minced
2/3 cup fresh grated Parmesan
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (2 large lemons juiced)
Salt
Fresh cracked black pepper
1 lemon zested (about 1 tablespoon)
2 tablespoons fresh parsley leaves, chopped

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally

In a medium pan add 1 tablespoon olive oil and 2 garlic cloves.  Cook garlic until starting to brown.  Add the remaining olive oil, lemon juice and parmesan to the pan.  Whisk until combined and thickened.

Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the pasta water. Add 1 cup of the pasta water to the pan with the olive oil and lemon.  Whisk until thickened.  Add the sauce to the pasta and toss well to combine.

 

Season with salt and pepper.  Add lemon zest and parsley and combine.

Serve immediately. 

Click here for a printable version of this recipe - The Slow Roasted Italian.com