Lemon Spaghetti is one of my favorite quick pasta dinners to make. It is so refreshing and perfect for an early summer evening. This time I decided to kick it up a notch with some grilled prawns. Now, I left the prawns whole since I like to do peel and eat shrimp, but you can use shelled prawns just mixed all up in the lemon spaghetti. It was actually this recipe that inspired me to tweak the sauce a bit to create my popular Seared Scallops with lemon caper pasta.
The sauce is super easy, which makes this entire recipe really easy. Just butter, milk, and lemon zest brought to a boil, then add in a little Parmegiano Reggiano, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Whisk everything together and drop in the cooked spaghetti. This is a way less time intensive recipe than something like my FRESH RICOTTA RAVIOLI WITH WALNUT SAUCE and less heavy than my CREAMY SAUSAGE PASTA.
I start the lemon pasta sauce by melting a half stick of butter on medium low heat. When it is fully melted I add the zest of a whole lemon and half a cup of milk. I bring everything to a boil, whisking so none of the fats burn/brown. While this is happening the dry spaghetti is boiling until al dente (about 8 minutes).
Once the lemon sauce starts to boil I add in a bit of Parmesan cheese, but not too much since I still want the sauce to be fairly light. I also add in some salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
If you strain your pasta, reserve a few tbsp of pasta water and whisk that into the sauce before you add your noodles. However I just use tongs and lift the noodles right from the pot into the sauce pan and I find that does the trick. Plus it does not make me need to get out the strainer. The lemon pasta is finished right away so you can turn off the heat after mixing everything together.
In another pan (or the same pan that has been cleaned if you don’t mind some pasta cooling a bit) add some olive oil and turn the heat on medium high. Thrown on some large prawns and grill for a minute each side with the shell on. If you use shell-less shrimp you’ll really only need 20 seconds a side since shrimp cook extremely fast. Plate and serve this lemon spaghetti right away!
Lemon Spaghetti With Prawns
Equipment
- Pot
- Pan
Ingredients
- 300 grams Spaghetti
- 50 grams Butter
- 60 ml Milk less if you want to use heavy cream
- 1 large Lemon
- 1 pinch Salt plus more for salting the pasta water
- 1 tsp Black Pepper freshly cracked
- 25 grams Parmigiano Reggiano grated, or other hard salty cheese
- 6 large Prawns or more if you are going shell-less
Instructions
- Start a pot of boiling salted water. Add the dry spaghetti, it should take 8-9 minutes for al dente, but pay attention to your package instructions.
- In a skillet on medium low heat add the butter and let it melt.
- Take a peeler and peel of two swathes of lemon peel, then zest the rest into the melted butter. Add the milk and whisk everything together constantly until it begins to boil (about 4 minutes).
- Lower the heat, add in the pepper, grated cheese, and the juice of the lemon and whisk everything together fast so it doesn't split or curdle.
- Use tongs to lift the spaghetti right out of the pot and put it in the pan. That should be enough to bring over the salty pasta water. Stir everything to toss the pan a few times. Plate
- In another pan on high heat add some olive oil and grill the prawns a minute each side. Place artistically on the lemon spaghetti and then sprinkle over some more grated cheese and cracked black pepper.
