Pasta, lemon juice and lots of parsley and garlic create a lively, weeknight quick, vegetarian dinner. Recipe below.
PARSLEY WAS AN AFTERTHOUGHT IN OUR GARDEN THIS YEAR. Although we love the freshness it can add to a dish, we use parsley just infrequently enough that we’ve never bothered to grow it. Then we realized that if we had some in the yard and could harvest just what we needed, we wouldn’t be throwing out wilted, partially used store-bought bunches.
So we bought an Italian parsley plant, stuck it a pot on the patio and said “we’ll see.” The parsley said “I like it here” and took off. Suddenly, we not only had parsley we could use, but that we really needed to use. This go-big-or-go-home recipe let us harvest a decent amount; as we speak, the plant is busy replacing it.
There are numerous pasta al limone (lemon parsley pasta) recipes out there, which makes sense—it’s quick and easy to make, and it’s a fresh, lively summer vegetarian meal. Most are vegan, in fact: parsley, lemon juice and zest, garlic, olive oil, and salt and pepper. We saw a version or two with grated cheese added as well as crushed red pepper flakes. We opted for both additions.
Regarding go big, or go home, recipes are all over the board in terms of parsley usage. For a pound of uncooked pasta, we saw everything from a scant 1/4 cup of chopped parsley to an entire bunch—about 2 cups, give or take. We opted for 1-1/2 cups, figuring we wanted the parsley to star. Everyone goes big on garlic, mostly using four or even five large cloves. For the pasta, go long. You can use linguine, cappellini or whatever you have on hand or prefer. We used spaghetti because we don’t use it often enough.
Pasta al limone comes together weeknight quick—you can prepare the sauce while the pasta cooks. It’s an absolutely satisfying meal, and its fresh, lemony flavor will have you adding it to your rotation. I know we will, especially now that we have parsley pretty much anytime we need it.
Pasta al Limone
Ingredients
- 16 ounces uncooked spaghetti, or other long pasta
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 large cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper (see Kitchen Notes)
- 1 lemon juice and zest
- 1-1/2 cups chopped Italian flat leaf parsley
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Set a pot of salted water to boil. Cook pasta according to package directions until just al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta water.
- While pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in a large sauté pan or skillet. Add garlic and crushed red pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 2 minutes. Reduce heat if garlic starts to brown. Turn off heat and stir in lemon zest.
- When pasta is done, add to skillet along with lemon juice and a little pasta water, and return to medium flame. Add parsley. Toss to combine everything, adding more water as needed to moisten pasta, if dry. Cook until heated through, 1 or 2 minutes.
- Add 1/2 cup grated Parmesan and toss to combine. Taste and season with salt and pepper, as needed.
- Divide among 4 shallow pasta bowls and top with additional grated Parmesan, to taste. Serve.
Fun Oscar Wilde story. And wonderful recipe! I make a version of this with shrimp, that we like a lot at this time of the year (in fact you’ll probably see it in the next month or two on our blog!). I go back and forth between fresh thyme and parsley. Parsley looks better and I like its flavor. But thyme adds nice flavor, too. Decisions, decisions. Gotta try your version, just as written — it looks fabulous. Thanks!
Thanks, John! I look forward to your shrimp version.
that’s a lovely plate! and the pasta sounds very tasty. simple and light. i wonder why flat leaf parsley became so popular in recent years? i way prefer curly parsley; i think it has so much more flavour. i saw a tv chef a while ago pretty much apologising for using it. silly fella!
I have to be in the mood for pasta or pizza. No idea why. This sounds delicious.
I love linguine and clams in white sauce with a huge amount of parsley.
Thanks for another recipe I’m looking forward to trying.
What we can see of your container garden looks great.