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A citrusy take on pesto that flavors the pasta from the inside out
Spaghetti with Lemon Pesto
This unusual pasta dish is modeled on the spaghetti al pesto di limone from Italy’s Amalfi coast. Amalfi lemons, best known for their use in the production of limoncello, an Italian lemon liqueur, are enormous, with extremely thick skin and a sweet, floral fragrance and flavor. By comparison, the variety of lemons commonly available in the U.S. are sharper and more brash in taste. So to make a lemon pesto that approximated the original, we use a little sugar to temper any harshness. For an extra layer of citrus complexity, we add lemon zest to the pasta cooking water; the oils that the zest releases lightly perfumes the spaghetti and reinforces the lemony notes of the pesto.
4
Servings
Tip
Don’t forget to remove the lemon zest from the boiling water before dropping in the pasta. If left in as the spaghetti cooks, the zest may turn the water bitter, and the strips are a nuisance to remove from the strands of cooked noodles.
25 minutes
Ingredients
-
4
lemons
-
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
Directions
Pardon the interruption
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