For the Love of Lemons
Savoring the last few weeks of citrus season
It was a true honor to be featured in
’ Noted Substack this week. I’ve been a fan for a long time. I wrote about my love of Jillian’s newsletter last April in the below post, which also has a great and timely recipe on this first day of spring. Beans! Primavera!Each week Jillian profiles an artist, writer, musician, etc. and their notebooks and/or note taking style. She was kind enough to ask myself,
, and to share our recipe notebooks and I was thrilled to participate. You can read all about it here. Domenica and Amie’s will be posted tomorrow and I can’t wait to see them. Thank you again, dear Jillian.
Peak citrus season in California has only a few weeks left and I’ve been craving nothing but bright, lemony things. It often happens to me this time of year. The days are lighter and longer, but still brisk and somehow the act of eating something vibrantly yellow, or pink (!) or orange gives me hope that warmer days are not too far ahead. I once spent a spring in Napa living amongst the lemon trees and it was a gift to be able to walk outside and simply pick them as needed. Their floral, aromatic fruit perfumed the air. I even worked citrus blossoms into dishes.
Today’s recipe is my version of the classic Pasta al Limone, which is a pasta typically tossed with lemon zest, juice, butter and cream. It is a luxurious dish with few ingredients. I took some liberties and added in some handfuls of peppery arugula and toasted pistachios for subtle sweetness and crunch - it is so very good. Chad is a normally a red sauce guy and he too was very pleased. You could eat this pasta on its own (it sorta has a salad built in), but I served it with roasted, sweet Italian sausages on the side. It worked well. Do as you please.
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Pasta al Limone, al Rucola, al Pistacchio
INGREDIENTS
1 to 2 large lemons
Kosher salt
12 ounces pound spaghetti or linguine
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
¾ cup heavy cream
4 ounces grated pecorino (about 1 cup)
5 ounces baby arugula
1 cup roughly chopped roasted, unsalted pistachios
Freshly ground black pepper
METHOD
Zest and juice the lemons and set them aside separately. You should have about 2 tablespoons of zest and ½ cup of juice.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta until al dente according to package directions.
When the pasta is about 5 minutes away from being al dente, heat a Dutch oven over medium heat and melt the butter. Add the cream along with the half the lemon zest and the the juice and bring to a simmer, cook together until slightly reduced, about 2 minutes.
Scoop the pasta directly into the cream sauce, stirring vigorously. Stir in ½ cup of pasta water along with the pecorino and arugula and half the pistachios. Toss to coat until the arugula wilts, adding ¼ cup of pasta water or more (up to 1 cup), if needed to loosen up the sauce.
Plate in bowls and garnish with the remaining lemon zest and pistachios and a few good turns of black pepper. Pass more cheese at the table should you like.
I hope you enjoy it.
With lotsa love for lemons,
Colu 🍋
I like this pumped up version of pasta Al limone. Going to make it. Thanks for the inspiration. So fun to see your recipe notes with their accompanying sketches. x
I was delighted to feature you and your drawings!
I went to grad school in California and the citrus was such a perk!