Lemon Spaghetti

Back in undergrad, my mom and I would watch Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals  when I was home during the summer.

30 minutes for her maybe. An hour and a half for us.

One night we made her lemon spaghetti. It is super delicious, however, it calls for heavy cream (something I don't usually have on hand and never use the whole container) and parmeseano reggiano cheese (I probably butchered that spelling). When you live in the boondocks, it's hard to find such fancy cheese. And when you do find it, it ain't cheap.

So I said screw that, I'll make my own recipe on the cheap. I usually eat it with fish (Gorton's grilled tilapia). If I set the water to boil just before I put the fish in the oven, everything gets times perfectly. I also usually add some grilled zucchini, but I didn't have any this time around.

Ingredients
1 package thin or angel hair spaghetti
2 lemons
1/3 cup milk
Fresh rosemary, oregano, basil and Italian flat leaf parsley
4 cloves garlic
Shaved (or shredded) Parmesan cheese

Boil 1 package thin spaghetti or angel hair according to package directions (I use whole wheat thin). While you wait on that, chop some fresh herbs.

From top to bottom, basil, rosemary, oregano, Italian flat leaf parsley. If you're going to cook with fresh herbs often, it really is worth it to grow your own. Mine grow in a window box planter that moves inside and outside according to the weather. Chop them all together. You can either tear, use a super sharp knife, or kitchen shears. I use a sharp knife.

Zest one whole lemon, and about half the other (or about 3/4 of each). This makes it super lemony, so you can always cut back if it's too much for you. Peel the garlic cloves. I peel them first so I don't have to stop and clean out the press between cloves. To easily peel, lay your knife over the clove and hit the knife with the heel of your hand until the clove flattens (don't cut yourself). Then the peel will easily come off.

When the pasta is al dente, ladle (or just dip in your measuring cup) 1/2 cup of the starchy water to use later. Drain the pasta and leave it in the colander while you make the sauce.

In the pasta pot, drizzle olive oil to coat the bottom, mince your garlic cloves into the heated oil. At this step I move the pot from the burner that was boiling to a new one at medium high heat. If you have a gas stove, it won't matter, but electric stoves can take forever to cool down, and you don't want to burn the sauce. Cook the garlic until it is sizzling and starting to get fragrant. Then add the starchy water (from the pasta) and milk and heat to boiling while *constantly stirring*. Don't stop stirring. You will burn your milk. Stir for about 2 minutes (it will reduce your volume). Then add the juice from those two lemons (to get the juice flowing, roll the lemons on your cutting board before cutting them). Stir well and remove from heat. Immediately add the chopped herbs and lemon zest and stir well (you want to add the herbs last because basil especially can get bitter if it cooks for too long). Mix in the pasta and add the parmesan cheese. I used up what was left of my container, about 1/2 cup. Stir until the cheese is starting to get gooey.

Now it's ready to serve. This makes 4-6 servings (depending on how hungry you are).