Recipes: March 2005 Archives

I made this pasta recipe tonight, and it's really quick and good. It's from Marcella Hazan, who is the Italian cookbook author. Because there aren't very many ingredients, it's important to make them good quality. Organic cream tastes better; organic lemons might not taste better, but since you're using the peel I really recommend it, and by all means use the best cheese you can afford (real parmigiano-reggiano is great, but you can substitute Italian grana padano or pecorino romano).

Fettucine with lemon

4 Tb butter
1 C heavy cream
Grated peel of 4 lemons
2 Tb freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 lb dried fettuccine or linguine
1/2 C grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, plus additional for the table

1. Put the butter and cream into your largest skillet and turn heat to high. When the cream begins to boil, add the lemon juice and stir thoroughly. Add the grated lemon peel. Continue stirring while you reduce the cream mixture to half of its original volume. (Do not reduce it completely because the pasta will be tossed with it later and will absorb it all.) Turn off the heat.

2. Drop the pasta into a big pot of boiling, salted water. When cooked just to al dente, drain and transfer to the pan with the lemon sauce. Turn on the heat to medium and toss the pasta thoroughly in the sauce for 15 to 20 seconds.

3. Transfer all the pasta and sauce to a warm serving bowl. Add the grated cheese, toss to mix, and serve at once with additional grated cheese for the side

Random notes:

If you're grating this much lemon zest, you'll get really annoyed if you use the old-school stand up grater. The new microplane zesters are so much better and easier to use. You'll like it.

Sometimes pasta dries out after a while at the table. You can take care of this by saving a cup or so of the pasta water before you drain it. Add it back in small amounts if your pasta dries out.