Spaghetti Al Limone Recipe

This recipe was born of necessity one afternoon as I stood in my kitchen looking guiltily at a bowl of wrinkled lemons and a half pint of heavy cream on the verge of turning.

Must use now.

I know what you’re thinking: Cream and lemons—won’t that curdle? But strangely, it doesn’t. Instead, these two ingredients along with a little Parmesan—and little else—turn plain old spaghetti into a rich, lemony pasta you’d be happy to serve to company.

Adapted from a New York Times recipe, this dish is all about essences. You simmer julienned lemon peel in a little white wine—I happened to have some leftover Prosecco on hand.



Then you boil down the wine until it turns syrupy, capturing the intense essences of both wine and lemon oil.



Next you pour in the heavy cream and reduce.



The resulting thick, lemon cream needs nothing more than a little lemon juice, cheese and black pepper. Tossed with al dente pasta, Spaghetti Al Limone makes a perfect late-spring supper.

Spaghetti Al Limone Recipe

2 lemons
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup heavy cream
1 pound spaghetti
3 tablespoons butter, in pieces
3 1/2 to 4 ounces Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, to taste
Sea salt and fresh black pepper, to taste.

1. Peel zest from one lemon, removing as much bitter white pith as possible. Julienne the zest into the thinnest possible slivers. Squeeze, strain and reserve juice from both lemons.
2. In a small saucepan, combine lemon zest and wine. Bring to a boil and simmer over medium high heat until wine is reduced to a syrup—about 10 minutes. You’ll have around 1/4 cup of lemon-wine syrup.
3. Turn off flame, add 1/4 cup of cream to syrup and stir well to incorporate. Add remaining 3/4 cup of cream, turn on flame to medium, bring cream to a boil and simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from stove.
4. In the meantime, boil spaghetti in salted water. When pasta is al dente, reserve 1 cup cooking water and drain pasta.
5. Working quickly so pasta does not get cold, pour cream, butter and reserved lemon juice into pot, stirring to blend. Dump in hot drained pasta and toss with olive oil and cheese, adding cheese in 3 to 4 parts alternately with cooking water about 1/4 cup at a time—you’ll use between 1/2 and 1 cup of water. Season with pepper and salt to taste and serve immediately.

Serves 4-6.