Spaghetti with creamy and garlicky lemon sauce is how you should enjoy your pasta dish on this week’s Pasta night! In Italian it’s spaghetti limone ? and it normally doesn’t take garlic or cream, but I added garlic and cream to mine because I like that. It goes super well with chicken or fish and you should definitely try it. This pasta is AMAZING, especially if you use fresh ingredients!
I picked a lemon right out of my lemon tree Winecoach (now also Vinecoach), has planted them and they have given us beautiful lemons! Not everyone has one though, so go to your grocery store and get the freshest lemons you can find. The fresher the better, especially because of the rind. Old rind won’t yield as much flavor, which makes sense, as we are counting on the essential oils coming straight from them.
Creamy Spaghetti Limone
- 3-4 garlic cloves, smashed
- 1 fresh lemon, juice and rinds
- 2 chicken breasts, scored
- Salt and pepper
- Seasonings: lemon pepper from Mom Cave Foods
- Olive oil 2-3 tbsp
- Butter, 1-2 tbsp
- Heavy whipping cream, ½ mmcup
- Parmesan, ¼- ½ cup
- 1 on Spaghetti
- Pasta water
- With a sharp knife, cut the rind off of the entire lemon, gently, with as little (white part on the inside as possible).
- Cut ribbons off of 2 rind strips if your lemons are fresh, because this definitely adds taste pasta with each bite (yes, I’m talking you will eat fresh rind, don’t knock it till you try it), SO FRESH! Chop the rest into tiny pieces.
- Score and season your chicken breasts. Salt, pepper and lemon pepper – I love the one from Mom cave foods. AMAZING. They have the BEST spice blends, worth checking out. (code: Colorfulfoodie will give you 10% off)
- In a nonstick skillet over high heat, heat up 1-2 tbsp of olive oil and add the chicken, about 2-3 minutes. Add 1 tbsp of butter, then lower temperature to low-medium, flip the chicken and sear for another 4-5 minutes or until cooked through.
- Remove the chicken, add the garlic and olive oil to the pan (yes you want those chicken flavors) – cook through for 1-2 minutes. Add 1 tbsp of butter, the finely chopped lemon rinds (minus the ones you “ribboned”) – mix that through. Add lemon juice, followed by heavy whipping cream. Mix, mix, mix and finish with parmesan and black pepper. Taste it! What else does it need? If you made it like this, it needs nothing!
- Cook spaghetti in salty water just like the sea. Strain it and add it to the sauce saving some of the starchy pasta water. Add ¼ cup of that water to “emulsify” your sauce and make it creamy, cheesy and delicious. Don’t forget to add the ribboned rinds, more fresh parmesan over the chicken on top of your spaghetti.
Have a bite and think of me. I just LOVED it!
See the short video here.