Surprise Your Valentine With Spaghetti Al Lemon
There is something undeniably romantic about making pasta for your loved one. Maybe it’s because I always try to feel like I’m dining in a nice Italian restaurant by candlelight; maybe I just really like carbs. It’s hard to say for sure. But one thing I know for sure: the most romantic pasta dish on earth is spaghetti with lemon, and you should make it for your Valentine’s Day.
You don’t have to take my word for it. As chef, cookbook author, and notorious pervert Matty Matheson said in his episode of “Hot” , lightness and tenderness is always the go-to when you’re trying to impress a date:
[The best dish to impress a lady] is something light, like spaghetti with lemon and ricotta. If you can do something delicate and do it well, she eats it and she feels light, she feels good, she feels full – maybe you guys can, like, 69, or hang out, watch a movie , watch Stranger Things. , whatever you want to do.
I couldn’t have said it better myself, King!
Ladies aren’t the only people who can appreciate light, gentle pasta; Regardless of your Valentine’s gender, well-executed lemon spaghetti will blow their socks off. It’s just as juicy and romantic as the heavier, cheesier, porkier pasta, but more importantly, it’s nearly impossible to mess up. Most recipes call for at least a little heavy cream, which not only gives the aromatic flavor compounds in the lemon zest plenty of fat to dissolve, but also makes emulsifying the sauce a breeze. With carbonara, you can accidentally shake the yolks; with cacio e pepe, the cheese may stick together or not dissolve properly. But with Lemon Spaghetti, the cream does all the work for you.
There are probably millions of recipes for this dish on the Internet, and if you look at just a few of them, it will give you one more reason to love spaghetti with lemon: the ingredients can be found in any grocery store, or if you already have lemons and parmesan , you can even look into the wine cellar on the way home. All you need is a long pasta (classic spaghetti, elite bucatini), butter, heavy cream (I’m happy to say you can use halves in a pinch), one or two lemons, and optionally a hard cheese such as Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano. The technique is also beginner-friendly: Gently bring the lemon zest and cream to a boil, beat the butter, add the cooked pasta and some water for the pasta, stir, add the cheese, stir again, and finally add the remaining lemon juice. Voila. I prefer Bon Appétit’s Molly Baz , but Deb Perelman at Smitten Kitchen also has a great, reliable no-heavy creamer version that I can personally vouch for.
Personally, I find lemon spaghetti to be flawless on its own, but if it seems too simple for a special occasion, you can up the impressive flavor factor by buying store-bought or homemade fresh pasta. (A light, simple sauce like this pairs well with fresh pasta because it enhances the delicate texture and flavor of the pasta itself so that you and your date can really appreciate it.) salad, and you have an impressive romantic dish that won’t leave you you are too full for dessert – and everything that you have planned for the evening.