Spaghetti Al Limone - Lemon Spaghetti

 There are so many variations of Spaghetti Al Limone and I've tried a few this week.  Some recipes call for a lot of lemon juice which wasn't my favorite.  I do like this one however and it incorporates a little cream which you can omit if you like, but then also omit the egg yolks.  I also added basil one day and arugula the next, it's all delicious.  I did add additional seasonings, like garlic powder but also a little more cream and lemon after cooking up the pasta, so just make it your own!  Salting the pasta water however really adds to the flavor as does reserving a cup of the pasta water to toss into the pasta.  Enjoy!

1 lb. spaghetti or fettuccini noodles

1 pot of really salted water (this makes such a huge difference to the flavor of your pasta noodles)

Save 1 cup of spaghetti water after it’s cooked

Zest from 2 lemons

Lemon juice from 3 lemons (you can decide afterwards if you’d like to add more lemon juice when pasta is cooked)

2 cloves garlic, minced.

3 tbsp. Olive oil for pan

4-6 tbsp.  of butter

½ cup Parmesan or Pecorino cheese

½ cup cream

2 egg yolks

Maybe a little more salt but only after you taste pasta

Pepper

 

Bring pot of salted water to a boil and add one regular box of long noodles.  Cook for about 9 minutes.

In the meantime, get a frying pan oiled up with your favorite olive oil, add the lemon zest and cook on medium for about 1 minute, stirring it around.  Add garlic and then cook only for about 30 seconds so it doesn’t burn, then add the lemon juice, keeping the temperature at medium.

Drain your pasta, however, save 1 cup of the pasta water to add to the cooked noodles in the pan.  Toss the noodles into the zest, lemon juice and garlic and toss around.  Then add the pasta water to the noodles in the pan and let it simmer down a bit tossing the noodles.  Meanwhile, mix up the cream with the egg yolks in a little bowl and then also toss into pasta, continuing to mix!  Take a couple of noodles out and taste to see what else you would like to add.  Would you like to add a little more lemon juice?  Does it need some more salt?  Toss in your cheese, season with pepper, turn out into a large bowl and let everyone serve themselves!  It is so delicious!

P.S.  Other additions that are nice and that I added, was a handful of arugula.  You can also add some protein to it as well - chicken or prawns would be nice.

I serve with Braised Leeks and Butter Lettuce with Vinaigrette, see recipe separately!