Lemon Pasta from Pioneer Woman Via Pinterest.com

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cook spaghetti until al dente. Drain, rinse with cold water, and set aside.

Start by grating the zest from one lemon.

In a skillet, melt the butter over low heat.

Add an equal amount of olive oil.

While the butter and oil are heating, peel the garlic.

And mince it very finely. The garlic and the lemon together is…is…worthy of a sonnet.

When the butter is melted…

Throw in the minced garlic.

Next, cut the lemon in half whose zest you ripped off a few minutes ago.

Use the tip of the knife to pop out the seeds if there are any.

Then squeeze the juice right into the pan. I used a whole (smallish) lemon, but you’ll need more for later.

Next comes 2 cups of sour cream.

And slowly stir the mixture together.

Next comes the grated lemon zest. Add as little or as much as you’d like…but don’t skimp!

Stir together, then add plenty of kosher salt. Half a teaspoon is a good start—remember that the sour cream really doesn’t have a lot of salt content.

Throw the spaghetti into a large bowl…

Then pour the lemony creamy mixture over the top and stir together.

News Flash: Guess what? If you’d like, you can go ahead and throw in the fresh parsley now, then refrigerate it as a pasta salad for later. Just garnish with plenty of fresh Parmesan after it’s cold.

But I’m going to bake mine because I’m naughty. Pour the noodles into an oven safe dish…

Cover it with foil, then bake for about 15 minutes. Then remove the foil and bake for another 7 to 10 minutes, or until the top just barely turns golden. Watch as it’s baking and make sure it doesn’t look too dry.

While it’s baking, chop up plenty of fresh flat leaf parsley. I love parsley with this dish, but any combination of herbs works fine.

Also grate plenty of Parmesan cheese.

I use the microplane for this, but it results in a really fine, fluffy texture. Feel free to use a regular grater like most normal souls do.

Now comes the fun part. Remove the pasta from the oven…

And squeeze a little lemon juice over the top. Trust me.

Then comes the Parmesan…

And THEN comes the Parsley.

Oh, yum.

Next…you guessed it. Squeeze a little more lemon over the top.

This is lemon pasta, my darlings. You want to taste the lemon.

Then just throw the lemons on the side of the dish, grab some forks, plates, and gingham napkins and head outside! It’s only May—not too hot to eat lemon pasta on the porch.

Enjoy!

 

Recipe: Baked Lemon Pasta

Prep Time: 15 Minutes  |  Cook Time: 30 Minutes  |  Difficulty: Easy  |  Servings: 6

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Ingredients

• 1 pound Thin Spaghetti
• 4 Tablespoons Salted Butter
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 whole Lemon, Juiced And Zested
• 2 cups Sour Cream
• 1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt, Or More To Taste
• Plenty Of Grated Parmesan Cheese
• Flat-leaf Parsley, Chopped
• Extra Lemon Juice

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook spaghetti until al dente.
In a skillet, melt butter with olive oil over LOW HEAT. When butter is melted, add minced garlic. Squeeze lemon juice into the pan. Turn off heat.
Add sour cream and stir mixture together. Add lemon zest and salt. Taste, then add more salt if necessary. Pour mixture over drained spaghetti and stir together, then pour spaghetti into an oven safe dish.
Bake, covered, for 15 minutes. Then remove foil and bake for an additional 7 to 10 minutes. (Don’t bake too long or the pasta will dry out.)
When you remove it from the oven, squeeze a little more lemon juice over the top. Top generously with Parmesan cheese, then chopped parsley. Give it a final squeeze of lemon juice at the end.
Serve with crusty French bread and a simple green salad.

From Pioneer Woman as Posted on Pinterest.com

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