Linguine Limone Parmeggiano

Thanks to this site for photo

Summer is pretty much over, though I'm still waiting for the Indian summer to begin, since you know it will.  I did collect some new cookbooks over the summer.  I spent much of the summer cooking from websites. And I will try to make a better effort to blog the yummy stuff I try. Photos, however, those  I will not promise to include.  One of the books I bought was "my father's daughter" - Gwyneth Paltrow's cookbook. The book was highlighted in an article I read in Self. I tried this recipe for her dad's pancakes.  I totally recommend this recipe as well. Awesome pancakes, and I like the idea of making the batter the night before.

The recipe I tried tonight was for her spaghetti limone parmeggiano.  I used linguine noodles tonight, thus the name of the entry.   Ready in 15 minutes, it is so yummy!  Here's the recipe:

1lb pasta noodles
1 lemon
1 1/2 c freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 t freshly ground pepper
2 1/2 T olive oil
3-5 T pasta water
A handful of basil leaves

Instructions:
While you bring the water to a boil and you cook the pasta, make the sauce.

Use a bowl large enough to hold a pound of cooked pasta and mix it with the sauce. Zest the whole lemon into the bowl (I roll my lemons before I zest and juice them, not sure if it really helps, but it always makes for yummy lemon flavor.) Cut the lemon in half and juice each half. Paltrow recommends using the hand grater used to grate the zest as the strainer when juicing the lemon to save on dirty dishes. I gave it a try, it worked great.

Add cheese, pepper and olive oil to bowl. Tear the basil leaves (I used about 15 nice sized leaves) and stir into the sauce.  Once the pasta is cooked, I added 1/4 c pasta water to the sauce and stirred it in.

Drain pasta and add to bowl, and mix with sauce.  Serve right away.

Delish!