by: Kate McMillan
Cook Time
10 minutes
Prep Time
1 hour
Yield
4 servings
Total Time
10 minutes
Prep Time
1 hours
Yield
4 servings
summary
There are few things more special than homemade pasta. It’s so worth the effort, and our step-by-step guide makes it really quite simple. Pasta al limone is a delightfully light sauce made of just a few basic ingredients: lemon zest and juice, butter and Parmesan cheese. The addition of fresh spinach livens this up and packs a nutritional punch.
ingredients
- Pasta Ingredients:
- 2 cups, scooped and leveled all-purpose flour
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Sauce Ingredients:
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Juice and zest of 1½ Meyer lemons, plus more zest for garnish
- 2 cups fresh spinach leaves
- â…“ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
directions
- To make the pasta, place the flour onto a large work surface. Make a well in the middle and add the eggs, oil and salt. Using the tines of a fork mix the eggs until beaten. Then, using the fork, begin to incorporate the flour, little by little. Once most of the flour has been mixed in, switch to your hands, working the flour and dough into the middle of the work surface. Once you have a dough formed, knead the dough for 8 minutes. The dough should be very soft. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside to rest for 30 minutes. Cut the dough into 4 equal parts.
- Attach the flat dough attachment to your KitchenAid stand mixer. Sprinkle a generous amount of flour onto 2 baking sheets and set aside.
- Working with one section of dough at a time, and keeping the others lightly covered with plastic wrap, use your hands to flatten the dough into a rectangular shape. Run the dough through the pasta machine three times on level 1, three times on level 2 and then once each through levels 3, 4, 5 and 6. Place the dough on a work surface and cut it in half, crosswise (this will make it much easier to work with).
- Once you have repeated this process with each of the remaining three sections of dough, change the pasta attachment to the spaghetti (or fettuccine) attachment. Run each section through the attachment and then place on the prepared baking sheets and toss in the flour. This will keep the pasta from sticking together.
- Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Drop the pasta in and cook to al dente, about 6 minutes.
- While the pasta is cooking, make the sauce. In a large saute pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the lemon zest and juice and cook just until fragrant, about 1 minute. Turn the heat down to low, add the spinach and let it wilt, about 2 minutes.
- When the pasta is done, reserve a cup of the cooking water then drain the pasta. Add the pasta along with the Parmesan cheese to the saute pan and toss to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper and add pasta water, as needed.
- Use tongs to divide the pasta into 4 bowls and top with a little extra Parmesan cheese and a bit more lemon zest. Serve at once.
notes
Whenever you cook pasta, always reserve some of the cooking water. This is a great way to add flavor to your dish while adjusting the consistency of your sauce.
You will always get the freshest flavor from using a block of Parmesan cheese and grating it as needed.
Meyer lemons are best for this pasta al limone with spinach recipe, but you can use any lemons.
It tends to be a little easier with fresh pasta to cook the pasta in two batches.
