This recipe is so simple, so classic and so tasty – I love it. It’s also the very first recipe in Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers, after reading it I knew that this cookbook and I would have a long and happy relationship. It is a stunning mixture of a rich cream sauce and carb-a-licious pasta, tempered with bright lemony goodness. The perfect comfort food. It’s also elegant enough (and simple enough) that you could serve it to guests and they would think you are fan-cay!
Creamy Lemon Pasta
Recipe courtesy of Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers
- 2 lemons (the original recipe calls for one, but I love lemon and always use two.)
- 1/4 cup butter (that’s half a stick)
- 1 cup cream (the recipe calls for heavy cream but I’ve used both light cream and half-and-half with good results. Of course heavy cream is best…)
- 1 lb. Fettuccine
- 1 cup grated Parmesan
- salt & pepper
- Parsley for garnish (if you have it)
Bring a large pot of salted (like the sea) water to a boil. Meanwhile, grate or zest the lemon peel(s) and squeeze the lemon(s).
In a small skillet or saucepan on low heat, slowly melt the butter. Stir in the cream and heat through. Stir in the lemon juice and zest and turn off the heat.
When the water boils, cook the pasta until al dente. Ste aside a cup of that salty, starchy pasta cooking water and drain the pasta.
Place the hot, drained pasta in a large serving bowl (or right back in the pot), add the lemon cream sauce and toss. Add some or all of the reserved pasta water if more liquid is needed. Toss in the grated Parmesan and fresh parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Serve with a salad. I added lemon juice to my homemade vinaigrette just for kicks.
This is a really easy and delicious meal. It takes no time what-so-ever to prepare and, depending on what you keep as staples, you may not even have to go shopping for it. The only thing I don’t usually have on-hand is cream. The Moosewood cookbook also has three variations on the recipe – on lower-fat, one with peas and pepper and one with arugula – and all of them are quite tasty.
Today is Tuesday – on of my favorite days. My friend Amanda hosts a pot-luck dinner – she prepares the main course and everyone else brings sides and dessert. We knit and chat and it’s quite lovely. It is also such a treat to have someone prepare a meal for me! My contribution for this evening’s meal (spaghetti with meat sauce – yum!) is going to be chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (leftover from the Cullen-Cakes).
I’m heading off to the supermaket for ingredients but I’ll post the cake recipe and photos tomorrow – the cake is called Wacky Cake and it became popular during the Depression so it’s fitting – it’s really delicious, so easy my cat could probably make it, and 100% vegan (the addition of cream cheese frosting blows that out of the water but whateves…) Tomorrow night for supper we’ll be having Lentil Soup with Caramelized Onion, Rice, and Spinach – it’s a new recipe, totally vegan and very virtuous because I need to balance out all of the cream and baked goods somehow!
Art is the Handmaid of Human Good 