Spaghetti with Lemon Sauce

For this week’s three day blogging marathon # 46, my theme is lemons. I will be posting 3 days of lemon recipes. For the first day I have very easy, quick and yummy pasta. Spaghetti is cooked until al dente, tossed in lemon sauce and served hot with or without any vegetables.

The first time I made this pasta, I served it with sautéed shrimp and we loved it. The second time I made it for lunch and as I was the only one eating, and since I did not have any other side dish to serve the spaghetti with, I added some roasted mushrooms and zucchini. I liked both these vegetables in this spaghetti. For vegetarians, mushrooms and spaghetti is a good option and if one wants seafood check the suggestion below the recipe.

Source: Cooking Channel
Total Time: 26 – 35 minutes
Preparation Time: 15 - 20 minutes (includes time to boil water for spaghetti)
Cooking Time: 10 – 15 minutes
Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:

½ lb. (approx.) Spaghetti
6 – 8 cups Water
1 tbsp. Salt (to be added to boiling water)
Rind of ½ Lemon
1 Lemon, juiced or 3 tbsp. Lemon Juice
½ - ¾ tsp. crushed/minced Garlic (adjust to your liking. I like garlic and used ¾ tsp.)
2 ½ tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
⅓ – ½ cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
¼ tsp. Salt
⅛ tsp. Black Pepper Powder
¼ - ½ cup Flat Parsley

Vegetables:

8 – 10 Mushrooms, diced
2 small Zucchini, diced
2 tsp. Olive Oil or any Oil
⅛ tsp. Black Pepper Powder
¼ - ½ tsp. Salt

Preparation:

Cooking Spaghetti - Cook spaghetti to al dente following the instructions on the spaghetti box. I cooked spaghetti in 6-8 cups of salted (1 tbsp. salt) boiling water for about 11 minutes. Drain the spaghetti and keep ready.
Vegetables - While the spaghetti is cooking, roast diced mushrooms and zucchini in a 10” pan in some oil. Add salt and pepper to the vegetables when sautéing. This will take about 5 – 7 minutes on high flame. If the vegetables burn, reduce the flame. Once roasted, keep aside the vegetables.
Lemon Sauce - In a bowl take freshly squeezed lemon juice, garlic and whisk by slowly adding extra virgin olive oil to the lemon mixture. Add salt, pepper and cheese and whisk/mix.
Serving – Prepare the vegetables and lemon sauce before spaghetti is cooked. Once spaghetti is al dente, drain the spaghetti and add it to the lemon sauce. Give it a good stir. Add the vegetables, parsley and more cheese if one wants. Give it a good stir and serve immediately.

Suggestions:

This spaghetti can be served without any topping or with vegetables or with some shrimp. The first time I made it, I served with some shrimp. I marinated 1 pound shrimp with ⅛ tsp. black pepper powder, ¼ tsp. red pepper flakes, ¼ - ½ tsp. salt and 1 tbsp. oil for 30 – 60 minutes. Sauté the shrimp in some oil until the shrimp curls up and change color, and is fully cooked, about 5 – 8 minutes.

This day in:
2010 - Baked Nippattu
2011 - Soya Chunks & Bottle Gourd in Tomato Gravy
2013 - Aloo Bhujia