Easy Summer Supper: Lemon Pesto Pasta
🍋 Sunshine not included
Any online writer will tell you that emails tend to go unopened during the hottest parts of summer.
But what’s bad for metrics on our end is good for the summer spirit (or at least, I like to think so!)
I hope that folks are spending their precious days fly-fishing on a favorite river, splashing through a water park with their kids, grilling meat out on the patio for supper with friends, picking ripe apricots off the neighborhood tree, or jumping boldly into the chilled waters of a local lake.
I hope that at this very moment, you can feel the July sun on your face and warm grass between your toes.
On these summer days, I try to keep supper as easy and delicious as possible so that I can say “yes” to everything else.
Here’s a delicious lemon pesto pasta that tastes like sunshine, comes together in as long as it takes you to boil the spaghetti noodles… heck, you could make the whole thing wrapped in a beach towel!
Enjoy this bright taste of summer right on your plate, and go say, “yes!” to your own summer!
Spaghetti with Lemon Pesto
A fresh, vibrant take on a traditional pesto, this recipe uses the peels of high-quality lemons instead of basil to give you something textured, lovely, and not overly acidic. I love to sprinkle capers on top, preferably capers that have been packed in salt and then soaked in warm water for a few minutes prior to eating (this will help remove some of the salt). Use a high-quality dried pasta for this, one that has been pressed through a bronze-die, which creates a textured noodle that the pesto can stick too easily. More pesto, more flavor!
Ingredients:
4 lemons
1 cup almonds
4 ounces Parmesan cheese
1 small clove garlic
¾ - 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 pound spaghetti
2 tablespoons capers
Instructions:
Preheat a large pot of salted water for the pasta. Bring to a simmer.
Use a vegetable peeler to peel the zest off the lemons in large pieces. Add the zest from one of the lemons into the pasta water.
Place the remaining peels into a food processor, along with the almonds, Parmesan cheese, and garlic. Blend until well combined and as smooth as possible. Drizzle in the olive oil until the pesto is homogenous and smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. If desired, add a tablespoon or two of fresh lemon juice as well. Set the pesto aside.
Cook the spaghetti in the salted lemon water until al dente. Transfer the spaghetti to a large bowl, reserving some of the cooking liquid.
Add all the lemon pesto on top of the spaghetti, along with ¼ cup of the cooking water. Toss to combine the pasta well, adding additional cooking water if needed to loosen the pesto.
Serve the pasta with additional black pepper, minced parsley, Parmesan cheese, and capers, if desired.
This recipe originally came from The Elliott Homestead Cooking Community. This months recipes + instructional videos are all about Summer on the Mediterranean, which you can access now!
Onto more summer fun…
Love,
