Super-easy, super-quick lemon sauce for pasta and fittingly for today, a sunny day in June, it is sunshine on a plate. Best with long thin pasta like tagliatelle, spaghetti or linguine - but I make it with penne sometimes too.
A good lunch or easy supper, this goes well with a quick salad and it's also easy to add prawns or grilled chicken to make it more substantial. And lemon linguine alone makes an elegant first course.
My favourite sort-of-French-dressing uses:
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons white vinegar
1 garlic clove, skinned and squashed (not chopped)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Method (if you can call it that!) - put it all in a jar and shake, and add more of any dressing ingredient as needed to balance and until you're happy.
I put the jar into the fridge after using and every day just add more vinegar and/or oil as it gets more and more garlicky ...
The original recipe for the pasta with lemon is from Mireille Guiliano's 'French Women Don't Get Fat' and while her recipe serves four, this has been modified and serves two.
if adding prawns, I find it easiest to throw them in with the pasta for the last minute or two to heat or cook.
Make the sauce during the last few minutes of your pasta cooking, or when it's cooked, as it's very quick.
You'll need:
2 lemons
a good slosh of olive oil
around 100g-150g creme fraiche
approx 60g Parmesan
salt and pepper
Grate the zest of the lemons and halve one of them so you have it ready to squeeze into the sauce and grate the cheese.
In a saucepan, warm the olive oil and add the zest. Cook over a low heat for a couple of minutes.
Add the creme fraiche and bring to the boil, then squeeze in the juice of one lemon and bring to the boil again.
The easiest way to juice a lemon is to squeeze a half over your closed hand so your fingers catch the pips.
Cook for a couple of minutes, then add the grated Parmesan, season to taste and cook for another minute.
Combine with the cooked pasta and serve immediately.
Yep, sunshine on a plate and super-quick too :)
