Spring or Summer Lemon Spaghetti

Lemon Spaghetti is such a great summertime dish to make!  It’s light and citrusy and really easy to make.  It also has just a few ingredients, which is another plus.  You can serve it with chicken or fish, but it’s great by itself or with a great salad.  

I always tend to associate certain recipes or ingredients with the different seasons.  Cinnamon or pumpkin means fall and winter.  Grilled things and salads represent summertime.  So in my opinion, citrusy things remind me of spring and summer. Basically, anything that is lighter means warmer weather.

You’ll need:  1 lb spaghetti, 2/3 c. olive oil, 2/3 c. grated parmesan, 1 T lemon zest, salt and pepper and about 1/3-1/2 c fresh basil leaves.

First, cook the pasta in a large pot of salted, boiling water until it’s tender, but still firm to the bite – it ends up being about 8 minutes in my experience.  Make sure the water is well salted – it should taste like the sea. In addition, make sure you are using a large enough pot so that the pasta can cook without being overly crowded. 

Here’s another “pasta 101” tip.  Don’t add oil to the pasta water.  Basic science tells you that oil and water don’t mix.  Therefore, if you add oil, some of it will stick to the pasta, which makes whatever sauce you are using less likely to really cling to the pasta.  You want the starch from the pasta water to do that for you.  As I said above, if you use a big enough pot, and if you wait until you have a rolling boil to add the pasta, it won’t stick together.

Meanwhile, whisk the olive oil, parmesan and lemon juice in a large bowl to blend.

I know I’ve mentioned it before, but it bears repeating – this citrus press is wonderful.  I use it so much and it’s so easy.  Check it out here.  

By the way, you never know what’s going to happen on blog cooking/photographing days, as illustrated here.

Drain the pasta, reserving about a cup of the pasta liquid.  Toss the pasta with the lemon sauce and the reserved liquid, adding 1/4 cup of the water at a time as needed to moisten.

Garnish with lemon zest and chopped basil and dig in!

Print Recipe

Lemon Spaghetti

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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By Denise Palma – Serves: 6

Total Time: 20

Ingredients

• 1 lb. spaghetti
• 2/3 c olive oil
• 2/3 c grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 c fresh lemon juice, about 3 lemons
• 1 T lemon zest
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/3 c chopped basil leaves

Instructions

1

Cook the spaghetti in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender, but still firm to the bite - usually about 8 minutes.

2

Meanwhile, whisk the oil, parmesan and lemon juice in a large bowl to mix thoroughly.

3

Drain the pasta, reserving about a cup of the pasta water.

4

Toss the pasta with the lemon sauce, adding about 1/4 cup of water at a time, to keep it moistened.

5

Season with salt and pepper and garnish with lemon zest and fresh basil.