Lemon Pasta

This dish was actually created because I was trying to figure out a decent entree to serve as a vegetarian dish, without it being the typical meatless marinara pasta that is often offered up at family functions. I had a veggie friend, and it just seemed sad that she always had to eat second rate choices of food because nobody wanted to put any effort into a meatless dish.

This is a pasta dish that is ultra easy to make, cheap to cook, and also travels really well. I have even frozen it and used it as a freezer meal before with good success, but the best compliment I can give to this dish is that it’s hearty enough that even my meat loving husband will request it for dinner and declare it filling enough to serve as a main entree.

Ingredients: 1 lb Thin Pasta (angel hair works too – I recommend using a standard spaghetti if you want to freeze it though) 4 TBSP Butter 2 TBSP EVOO 2 cloves Minced Garlic 2 cups Sour Cream 2 whole Lemons 1/4 tsp Kosher Salt roughly 2 cups Grated Parmesan Cheese

Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 375 2. Prep your lemons. Roll them on the countertop under your palm while pressing firmly to loosen them up for juicing. Once fully tender, zest both lemons and save the zest for the sauce later. Slice lemons in half so you’re ready to juice them when needed. 3. Get pasta started cooking to al dente. When cooked – move to an oven safe casserole dish and wait for the sauce. 4. In a skillet, melt butter with EVOO over LOW HEAT. When butter is melted, add minced garlic. Squeeze one whole lemon and half of the other. Save the remaining half for later. Turn the heat off of the pan. 5. Add sour cream and stir mixture together. Add lemon zest from both lemons and the salt. Pour the mixture over the drained pasta and mix together well. (If you’re tasting as you – like you should! – don’t worry if you think the sauce is ultra sour at this point. I promise you it mellows out quite a lot while baking in the oven.) 6. Bake, covered, for 15 minutes. Then remove the cover and bake for another 7-10 minutes. 7. Once out of the oven, juice the last half of lemon over the pasta and top the dish generously with Parmesan cheese. Don’t skimp on the Parm here, it really makes the dish work! 8. Enjoy!!