A refreshing pasta dish flavored with garlic, olive oil, fresh cilantro, lemon, and Parmesan.
Many of my creations in the kitchen are an outcome of throwing all my about-to-expire ingredients into one saucepan and seeing what happens. Sometimes it tastes awful, such as when I thought I was on to something when combining pasta with chocolate, but other times it tastes like magic—which is how this pasta came to be. It turned out so good that it’s now one of my favorite light and easy meals.
This pasta is similar to the well-known pasta aglio e olio, which is made with olive oil and garlic, but I did make a few adjustments; instead of parsley I’m using cilantro, I add both lemon juice and zest, and rather than just sprinkling Parmesan on top of every dish, I mix some with the pasta for plenty of extra flavor.
The lemon taste isn’t strong, and its subtlety helps to make this dish refreshing and fragrant, but you can add more of it if you want. Personally, I just don’t like the sour taste it gives when adding too much of it.
You may also like these classic recipes:
Mushroom Alfredo pasta
Creamy tomato sauce pasta
Perfect homemade pizza
- 450 g/1 pound pasta (fettuccine or spaghetti are recommended)
- Salt
- 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 6 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Grated zest from ½ small lemon
- ½ cup minced fresh cilantro
- ½ – 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- To make the pasta: In a large pot, bring 4 quarts/liters of water to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon salt, followed by the pasta. Cook until al dente (i.e., slightly firm to the bite, not crunchy nor soft). Reserve 1 cup of pasta cooking water, and drain the pasta.
- As the pasta boils, make the sauce: In a large skillet (large enough to accommodate the pasta), heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant and tender, stirring occasionally, 2-3 minutes. Carefully add the reserved pasta cooking water in a slow stream, and simmer until water has reduced by about a third, about 5 minutes. Lower the heat and stir in ½ teaspoon table salt, lemon juice, lemon zest, and cooked pasta, and toss. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro and Parmesan (start with ½ cup and add more as you wish).
- Serve immediately.
- Leftovers can be kept in the fridge for 3 days.
12 Comments
LILY
July 13, 2016 at 2:44 pmI TRIED UR RECEIPT BUT WHEN I ADDED THE PASTA WATER TO COOKING OIL IT WAS EXPLOSION AND MADE A MESS ALL AROUND…. I LIKE UR RECEIPT BUT HOW TO AVOID EXPLOSION?
Shiran
July 14, 2016 at 4:05 amHi Lily, all you need to to do is to make sure that you heat the oil over medium heat, not high, and add the water carefully, in a slow stream.
Janet
October 31, 2016 at 1:26 pmI think I’m going to make this for dinner tomorrow! Just wondered – are the garlic cloves minced? Thanks!
Shiran
October 31, 2016 at 3:27 pmYes, they are minced. Enjoy!
Luciano Daitzchman
February 22, 2018 at 4:51 pmWe have made this recipe several times and it is amazing! Once in a while we add a twist — start by sauteing a pound of shrimp, put the shrimp to the side and follow the recipe. Mix the shrimp at the end.
Shiran
February 25, 2018 at 6:20 amI’m so glad you enjoy it!
Denise
May 21, 2018 at 5:39 pmHow much pasta water? All 4 qts?
Shiran
May 24, 2018 at 4:38 amHi Denise, after cooking the pasta you need to reserve 1 cup of pasta cooking water, and discard the rest. So you need to use 1 cup of water to the pasta.
Michelle Weidema
June 6, 2018 at 10:16 pmI made this and found it dry so wondered if I should have doubled the sauce!
Shiran
June 10, 2018 at 8:31 amHi Michelle, you can add more of the cooking water next time, until it’s no longer dry.
Keri Will-del Tufo
June 17, 2018 at 5:08 pmI laughed when I read the intro to this recipe. I google these ingredients because that’s what I wanted to use up! Thanks for doing the work for me!
Iona
September 13, 2019 at 4:12 pmGolly, how delicious! I used feta cheese instead of parmesan and green pea penne instead of tagliatelli…. Mmm! Thank you.