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Spaghetti al Limone (Spaghetti with Lemon Water)

Simple, zesty fresh tasting pasta with only four ingredients. Ready in the time it takes to cook the spaghetti.
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Course: first course, pasta, primi piatti
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: easy, lemon, pasta, vegetarian, zesty
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Soak lemons overnight.: 12 hours
Total Time: 20 minutes
Servings:2 people
Author: The Wild Epicurean

Ingredients

  • 3 organic unwaxed lemons, two quartered and one zested
  • 300 g spaghetti , linguine or fine tagliatelle I used wholemeal spaghetti.
  • 100 g finely grated provolone or parmesan cheese (plus extra to serve) I used parmesan as I couldn't buy provolone
  • 1 dried lemon leaf (see notes)
  • olive oil
  • salt and freshly ground pepper
  • optional herbs to flavour, small sprig thyme OR basil OR mint. Use sparingly - LEMON is the flavour here

Instructions

  • Add the 2 quartered lemons to a high sided saucepan, cover with 500ml of boiling water. Leave overnight or for a good few hours.
  • Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and add the spaghetti. Cook for about 2 minutes. Drain and add to the now boiling LEMON water. Add a tablespoonfor olive oil and a little salt . Omit the preboiling if you are using fresh pasta.
  • Boil gently, carefully squeezing the lemons to release their juice with the back of a wooden spoon. You may need to add more boiling water to stop it from sticking. It is a delicate balance between sticking and absorbing the lemon water!
  • Drain reserving a 80ml of the lemon water, remove the lemons.
  • Immediately add the parmesan, half of the zest, little lemon water and olive oil. Work quickly and toss well, or the cheese will clump together.
  • Serve immediately with the rest of the lemon zest, lemon leaf and a little freshly grated parmesan. Serve with freshly ground black pepper.

Notes

De-vein and grind dried lemon leaves in a mini-food mill or spice grinder. Store in a jar for a month and use to add a lemony topping to pasta, meat or cauliflower cheese!
(I dried a batch of lemon leaves when making the mincemeat as the oven was on a very low setting - I left them for about 20 minutes).
 

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 449kcal | Carbohydrates: 57g | Protein: 29g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 44mg | Sodium: 772mg | Potassium: 352mg | Fiber: 11g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 476IU | Vitamin C: 86mg | Calcium: 620mg | Iron: 3mg