15 Minute Meal: Lemon Garlic Fettuccine
Craving carbs? This is your answer.
The other day I was in desperate need for carbs and wanted to whip up something really quick for dinner. I looked in my pantry and honestly didn't have too much, so I ended up throwing something together really quickly and it turned out being delicious. I needed to share!
So here's what you need...
- 1/4 of boxed fettuccine pasta
- 1/4 cup of olive oil
- 3 gloves of garlic
- 1/4 of a fresh lemon
- basil to taste
- black pepper to taste
- parmesan cheese to taste
Step 1: To start, boil the 1/3 box of fettuccine pasta in pot of salted water. People skip salting the water, but I always recommend it because it adds so much flavor to the pasta. This usually takes 9-10 minutes with most pasta, which is plenty of time to develop the sauce.
Step 2: Once you get the pasta going on the back burner, in a skillet pour 1/4 cup of olive oil on medium heat. Once the oil is heated, add your 3 cloves chopped garlic cloves. You know your oil is heated once it flows around the pan like water and shimmers. Make sure to remove the garlic peels! If you're having trouble, just smack it a few times with the back of a knife. The key here is to know that garlic can burn really quickly. To avoid this, constantly stir the oil or move the pan back and forth on the burner. If you feel like your oil is too hot, you can turn your burner down to medium-low.
Step 3: Once the garlic is starting to cook through and shrink in size, squeeze a quarter of a lemon into the pan. I literally cut the lemon in half and then in half once more. Being cautious of the seeds, squeeze the lemon directly into the oil and garlic. When you add the lemon, because of the acidity, the oil might spatter up at you in the pan. No worries! It's only for a second, but if you don't want to get hit with hot oil, cover the skillet with a piece of aluminum foil while the lemon juice incorporates.
Step 4: Don't forget to stir your pasta every now and then! By now, it's probably boiling and close to being finished and so is your sauce. Grind some freshly ground pepper into your sauce and when your pasta is just about done, transfer it into the skillet. It's okay if the pasta is al-dente, it will finish cooking in the pan. Toss the pasta around a few times and add in basil cut in chiffonade*.
* Chiffonade is just basil cut into ribbons. To do this, stack basil leaves on top of one another and loosely roll them. Slice the roll into thin strips, almost like a cinnamon bun, to create the thin strips.
Step 5: Lastly, grate fresh parmesan over top of the pasta and stir once more in the skillet. Transfer pasta to a bowl and add more parmesan and pepper to taste. Bon appétit!
This recipe is packed with flavor and each bite contains an herbiness from the basil, a tartness from the lemon and a savory element from the garlic. The pepper and parmesan adds an incredible bite to dish as well and it only takes minutes to make. Enjoy!
