Nigella’s Lemon Butter Linguine
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Food & Nosh
This is something I whipped up this morning to eat for breakfast! Nigella Lawson’s lemon butter linguine, perfect for cold mornings when you don’t feel like doing any real cooking at all but still wanting something comforting and warm at the same time. This pasta dish is much like a dieter’s carbonara but making it is nothing as complicated.
I’ve actually modified Nigella’s recipe to make it er slightly more healthy by using whipping cream instead of the heavy/double cream she listed and cut down the amount of cheese and butter so just think of it as a lesser sin! Most “diet” recipes call for low-fat plain yoghurt to be used in place of cream but I think it’s an even bigger sin to even THINK about substituting cream with something else, especially in pasta. There is absolutely nothing wrong with eating a little cream, it’s an instant mood-lifter, something yoghurt will never be able to give you so please stop worrying about gaining weight when you eat this because a plate of pasta is not going to make you gain a kilo overnight.
Nigella Lawson’s Lemon Butter Linguine
Ingredients
Enough linguine for 2 people
1 egg yolk
1/8 cup of cream
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/8 stick of unsalted butter
Some pepper
1 tablespoon chopped parsley leaves
Take note that all the measurements I listed above are just rough estimates!
1. Fill a pot with water and bring to the boil. Add some salt. Tip in the pasta and cook til al dente.
2. In a bowl, put the yolks, cream, grated Parmesan cheese, zest of the whole lemon and juice of half of it, a pinch of salt and a good grating of pepper and beat together until just combined.
3. Remove a cup of cooking liquid, drain the pasta and then, off the heat, toss it back in the pan, throw in the butter and stir and swirl about to make sure the butter’s melted and pasta covered by it all over.
4. Stir in the egg, cream, cheese and lemon mix and stir to coat pasta.
5. Sprinkle over some just-chopped parsley and serve now, now, now!
Note: Please for the love of god, I beg of you: do NOT use pre-packaged grated parmesan - I know it’s cheap and convenient but it is certainly not the same as buying a wedge of parmesan cheese and grating it yourself. It’s dry, tastes bad as heck that you might as well not cook the pasta at all >.>
If you’re not into simple, light pasta like me, you can add shrimp and field mushrooms sauteed in a little olive oil - guaranteed to hit the spot mmm!
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Tags: nosh: italian food, recipes
9 Responses to “Nigella’s Lemon Butter Linguine”
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Catherine Says:
December 7th, 2009 at 9:01 pmThat looks FANTASTIC! And not very hard at all! I am definitely going to try this soon!
And LOL - ITA - prepackaged pregrated comes-in-a-shaker Parmesan is GROSS. I hated it as a kid and no wonder!! It’s not actually Parmesan at all!! Though, I will say the pregrated Reggiano at Whole Foods is not bad at all & definitely convenient.
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yumeko Says:
December 7th, 2009 at 11:21 pmyummmmy!
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ilyana Says:
December 8th, 2009 at 11:41 am@ Catherine
Try it out and tell me how it goes, it’s quite versatile so you can add in more stuff if it’s too simple for your tastebuds ;DI KNOW IT’S NOT EVEN REAL CHEESE! It’s some artifically flavoured crap disguised as the real deal, packaged and sold fo cheap. I wish we had Whole Foods here, Reggiano is a pretty good cheese for pasta!
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ilyana Says:
December 8th, 2009 at 11:42 am@ yumeko
Hey yumeko! the pasta was good ;D how was your holiday? -
heartofpearl Says:
December 9th, 2009 at 1:03 amohhhh my god haha .. im catching up bloggng n things at 4am.. starving rumbling and i see ur blog. noooo hahaha!! it looks deliciouss!! x
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[nadz] Says:
December 9th, 2009 at 9:45 amTHE FIRST THING I SAW IN THE MORNING IS THIS?! DAMN IM MAD HUNGRY NOW. ;<
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evie Says:
December 9th, 2009 at 9:48 pmooh looks super yummy and tempting!
thanks for the recipe! *copy and print*
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ilyana Says:
December 10th, 2009 at 2:46 pm@ heartofpearl
heyy hun! you were up at 4am? omg, I’m sorry for showing you food at such an ungodly hour..especially since you’re hungry
@ nadz
BAHAHHA SORRY.@ evie
Try it out some time, it tastes nice! -
Rae Says:
December 11th, 2009 at 12:09 amOh my goddd that looks amazing. *bookmarks*
Good luck with...