USE YOUR NOODLE
Play around with pastas, veggies, sauces for several weeknight meals.
Yes, you can have luxury on a Tuesday (or whatever) night. All you need is lemon, some cream, a shower of herbs, good cheese - and pasta.
Spaghetti’s skinnier sibling is what you want for this delicate sauce.
Make Ahead: The pasta can be refrigerated for 3 or 4 days.
Adapted from “Preserving Italy: Canning, Curing, Infusing, and Bottling Italian Flavors and Traditions,” by Domenica Marchetti (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016).
Salt
1 small lemon 3 tablespoons extravirgin olive oil
1 cup heavy cream Leaves from 2 large sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley
Leaves from 2 sprigs
fresh basil
1 pound dried spaghettini (thin spaghetti)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving
Freshly ground black
pepper
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil over high heat. Salt it generously.
Zest the lemon with a Microplane grater or zester (no white pith). Squeeze the lemon and measure out 2 tablespoons.
Combine the oil and lemon zest in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring now and again, for a couple of minutes, until the zest starts to sizzle gently.
Stir in the cream and increase the heat to medium-high. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 3 minutes, until the cream is heated through. Then whisk in the lemon juice, one tablespoon at a time, to form a thickened sauce. Turn off the heat and cover to keep warm.
Finely chop the parsley and basil; you should end up with about a tablespoon of each.
Add the spaghettini, reduce the heat to medium-high and cook according to the package directions (for al dente). Watch closely, as this thin spaghetti cooks quickly. Drain in a colander set in the sink, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water.
Return the pasta to the pot, then pour the sauce over it. Toss gently to combine. Stir in the cheese, herbs and a few grindings of black pepper. Add a splash or two of cooking water, as needed, to loosen the sauce. Toss once more, then divide among individual bowls, and serve with additional cheese.
Serves 4 to 6
Nutrition | Per serving (using 1 teaspoon salt): 520 calories, 14 g protein, 59 g carbohydrates, 25 g fat, 12 g saturated fat, 60 mg cholesterol, 540 mg sodium, 1 g dietary fiber, 4 g sugar