Helen's Tangy Lemon Pasta


by Helen Melser.

With winter comes the arrival of those yellow conservators of summer's sun - lemons. This recipe releases all their zingy wonder.

Ingredients
450g of your favourite pasta
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup grated parmesan
5-6 tbsp lemon purée or to taste
Chopped parsley or other green herbs
Salt and pepper, to taste

To make the lemon purée cut the ends of your lemons, quarter & remove pips. Pulse in a food processor to a chunky paste. Can be stored, covered in olive oil in a jar in the fridge, for up to 2 weeks.

Cook the pasta. Combine the oil, half the cheese and the lemon purée into a jug and whisk to blend. Taste and season as required, Drain the cooked pasta, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water.

Place the drained pasta in a warm serving bowl, then stir in the lemon purée mix, adding the reserved cooking water a little at a time until you have a loose but not runny sauce. Top with the extra cheese and parsley when serving. Change things up by adding halved olives, finely diced sun-dried tomatoes… or sizzled prawns, chorizo, smoked chicken… so many possibilities.

Serves 5-6

This recipe is from Helen Melser’s book The Olive Tree In My Kitchen, published by Bateman Books. Used with permission. To buy a copy of Helen’s book, please visit Aotearoa Books or Booktopia