Ingredients: Difficulty Rating: Easy
- 1 lb spaghetti, I use DeCecco – the pasta really matters, this is good.
- About 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil – and a little more if needed
- 3 large lemons – juice (should be about ½ cup) Zest one or the lemons (I’ve been mixing the zest in, but for special dinners it is attractive to sprinkle some of the zest over the pasta when you serve it) Plus some lemon slices or halves for the individual servings.
- 1 cup finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano (don’t substitute regular Parmesan Cheese) – with a few extra pieces very thinly shaved (I also like to add about 1/3 cup Pecorino Romano, its got a really buttery flavor – up to you) Have some extra grated cheese available for the individual servings.
- 1 Tablespoon chopped Italian flat leaf parsley (optional)
- 4 Tablespoons sweet butter
- Kosher (course) salt
Preparation:
Juice the lemons, and zest one of them. I like most of the lemon zested with a grater, and some pieces in tiny strands – it looks very pretty.
Whisk the olive oil and lemon juice together. Add salt – about 2 teaspoons
Add about ½ teaspoon of Kosher salt to the water in a large pot and bring it to a fast boil
Add pasta – spaghetti doesn’t need to cook very long, so don’t overdo it or it gets very mushy (about 7 minutes) Cook it only until al dente which is a bit firm when you bite into it.
After a 6-8 minutes, taste a piece of pasta, if it is al dente it is done. Using tongs, lift the pasta out of the water and into a pasta bowl. Save the pasta water.
Add the lemon, oil, butter and about 1/2 ladle of pasta water into your pasta bowl and stir it until the butter melts. If it looks too dry add some more pasta water and another tablespoon of butter. Keep stirring. You don’t want it swimming, just nice and moist, with a little buttery sauce to pour over the servings.
Add grated lemon zest, salt to taste and toss. Add the cheese and toss, leaving some extra for each individual serving. If you’ve made some lemon zest silvers, decorate the top with them.
Serve the pasta with plenty of the grated cheese.
Garnish with a few pieces of shaved Parmigiano Reggiano, and serve with a large piece of lemon in case someone would like to add more.
