Linguine with Lemon & Olive Oil

This pasta is fresh. Lemony, delicious, FRESH. I saw it over on smitten kitchen and knew I had to make it. Boy am I glad I did…this one is going into the pasta rotation because it is such a pleasant variation. Matt went crazy for it and was amazed that a lemon pasta could taste so good!

1 pound spaghetti or linguine

Salt

3 lemons

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil , plus additional for serving

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 ounce finely grated Parmesan cheese (about 1/2 cup), plus additional for serving

Ground black pepper

Small handful fresh basil or arugula leaves, shredded

Cook linguine or spaghetti in well-salted water to your al dente tastes in a large, wide-bottomed pot. (You’ll have fewer dishes to wash if you use this pot to assemble the dish as well.)

While pasta is cooking, zest lemons until you have a little shy of a tablespoon of zest. Juice lemons — you’ll have anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 cup lemon juice.

Drain pasta, reserving 1 1/2 cups of pasta cooking water. Dry out your pot, then boil the olive oil, cream, zest and 1 cup of the reserved pasta water together for two minutes over high heat. Return pasta to pot and stir until coated. Add the cheese and 1/4 cup lemon juice and toss, toss, toss everything together. Add more pasta water, 1/4 cup at a time, if you’d like your dish a little looser. Quickly taste a strand of pasta and see if you want to add the remaining lemon juice (we did). Stir in basil or arugula and season generously with salt and pepper.

Serve immediately, drizzling individual portions with a bit of extra olive oil and sprinkling with extra Parmesan cheese.