It’s time to usher in spring while taking advantage of the end of the winter citrus season, so let’s celebrate with a dish with bright flavors and colors — lemon pasta!

Lemon pasta is something that I had never eaten or even seen until I spent a few years in Italy. I love anything lemon, so I knew I had to order it when I saw it on the menu at San Marco, one of my family’s most frequented restaurants in Rome. When my plate arrived, I could only wonder where this dish had been all my life. Was the recipe a secret?  After experimenting a bit, I came up with my own version that married the rich sauce of San Marco’s version with some brighter flavors and a few greens. This recipe is now a standard in my house, and I regularly served it to the myriad of guests I hosted when living in Rome.

Though I tried to expose my guests to a broad spectrum of dishes from the various regions of Rome, lemon pasta seems to be the dish for which I get the most recipe requests. My dad said it was his favorite pasta he ate when he came to visit. Well, my dad doesn’t cook much, so he will have to wait for me to make it for him again, but luckily you can just follow my recipe and make this wonderful dish at home. It’s not difficult, and the ingredients are fairly easy to find.  As a bonus, it is also vegetarian, so you can squeeze a few more meatless menus into your meal plan without compromising on flavor.

Follow these steps for Lemon Pasta:

Put a medium pot of water on the stove and turn to high. Add one teaspoon of salt once water comes to a boil.**
While you are waiting for the water to come to a boil, prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Zest one lemon over a medium bowl and then squeeze out its juice as well as the juice of a second lemon.

Whisk in the olive oil, salt, and pepper. Finally, add the parmesan, forming a creamy sauce. Don’t worry if it looks a little bit grainy. The cheese will melt when you mix it with the hot pasta and a little of the pasta water.

Measure the mascarpone and set aside.

Stack the basil leaves

Stack the basil leaves and roll vertically.

Roll the basil vertically before slicing

Cut into very thin strips making a chiffonade.

Cut the arugula into thirds if using more mature arugula or field arugula. Baby arugula may not need to be cut.

Once your pot of water comes to a boil, place the pasta in the water and cook until al dente. (The noodles should still be slightly firm.) Reserve about a cup of pasta water, and then drain the noodles. You will use some of the starchy water to help melt the cheeses and make the sauce more fluid.

Return the noodles to the hot pan and stir in the mascarpone and the mixture of lemon, olive oil, cheese, salt, and pepper. Tongs or a pasta server work well for this.  Add some pasta water a little at a time to loosen the sauce (do NOT add all of the pasta water at once since you will probably not need all of it). Once you get a creamy texture, the sauce is done. Toss in the basil and arugula at the very end, and stir just enough to incorporate it.

Portion the pasta out into pasta bowls and garnish with freshly grated parmesan and fresh basil. Buon appetito!

Lemon Pasta

Joy Van Eaton It’s time to usher in spring while taking advantage of the end of the winter citrus season, so let’s celebrate with a dish with bright flavors and colors — lemon pasta! Lemon pasta is something that I had never eaten or even seen until I spent a few years in Italy. I love anything lemon, […] Recipes Lemon Pasta: a Good Way to Welcome Spring! European Print This

Serves: 4-6 servings Cooking Time: 20-30 minutes 20-30 minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 1 voted )

Ingredients

• 454 grams (16 ounces) of linguine or other long pasta of choice*
• 2 lemons, including the zest of one and the juice of both
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of grated parmesan cheese (NOT out of the green can!)
• 3-4 grinds of fresh pepper, plus more to taste
• 1/4 tsp. of sea salt, plus more to taste
• 1/4 cup mascarpone cheese (pronounced mahs-car-POH-nay)
• 1 large bunch of fresh basil, leaves removed and roughly chiffonaded
• 1 handful of baby rocket (arugula) (chop into thirds if they are long pieces)

Instructions

1. Put a medium pot of water on the stove and turn to high. Add one teaspoon of salt once water comes to a boil.**
   While waiting for the water to boil, prepare the rest of the ingredients.
2. Zest one lemon over a medium bowl and then squeeze out its juice as well as the juice of the second lemon. Whisk in the olive oil, salt, and pepper. Finally, add the parmesan, forming a creamy sauce.
3. Measure the mascarpone and set aside.
4. When the water comes to a boil, place the pasta in the water and cook until al dente. (Noodles should still be slightly firm.) Reserve about a cup of pasta water before draining the noodles.
5. Return the noodles to the hot pan and stir in the mascarpone and the mixture of lemon, olive oil, cheese, salt, and pepper. Add some pasta water a little at a time to loosen the sauce (do NOT add all of the pasta water at once since you will probably not need all of it). Once you get a creamy texture, the sauce is done. Toss in the basil and arugula at the very end, and incorporate it with a pasta server or tongs.
6. Portion out into pasta bowls and garnish freshly grated parmesan and a sprig of basil.

Notes

*I usually make 3 ounces of pasta per person, depending on whether I serve sides with the meal. The standard pasta serving is about 2 ounces per person, but that might be a bit meager if you are not serving other courses. **Using a medium pot versus a large pot to boil your noodles will give you a higher concentration of starch in the pasta water, which is better for emulsifying sauces. You can also just add a little bit less water to a large pot rather than filling it.