I came across the recipe video of this pasta randomly on BA’s Youtube channel which is currently my new source of inspiration after Pinterest. I have made my fair share of cream-based pasta but what I love about Pasta al Limone is the lemon. The acidity of the lemon is a great touch that really cuts the cream. Pasta al Limone also plays into my recent obsession with citrus ingredients in my dishes. Who knew lemon, lime, and orange could This is also probably the first pasta that I cooked without any garlic. (insert Pikachu surprised face) 

Not only is this recipe super easy to follow, but it also uses very few ingredients. Plus, you could easily find these ingredients in your fridge or pantry. There’s zero use of any herb for those with a limited herb/spice rack. This is also perfect for vegetarians since it’s totally meatless!

I did do a few tweaks to the original recipe since my mother is not a huge fan of cheese and thick cream sauces. I cut the amount of Parmesan by half. I also used half cooking cream instead of heavy cream. Cooking cream is lighter and more liquid than heavy cream. This would mean that the pasta sauce isn’t as thick but you could fix that by just adding more cheese if you’d like. 

I followed their methodology closely so you can just follow theirs. I just provided my ingredient list for anyone interested in a less cheese intense sauce. What a mouthful! 

Ingredients

• Lemon Zest from 1 Lemon
• 30ml / 2 tbsp Lemon juice
• 240ml / 1 cup Cooking Cream
• 60g / 4 tbsp Unsalted Butter
• 37.5 g / ⅜ cup Parmesan
• ~300g Pappardelle Pasta
• Black Pepper (to taste)
• Garlic Salt (to taste)

Use any kind of pasta you’d like. In my case, I used Pappardelle instead of linguine. I think Penne or  Fusili might be interesting alternatives too since the grooves (or whatever they’re called) can catch the sauce. 

Most importantly, be sure to taste your sauce before adding any salt. I would recommend to only add salt at the very end since you’ll be adding salted pasta water too. This would ensure you don’t end up with salty pasta. (I cheated and added some garlic salt because garlic is life.)