Sugo al Limone

This kind of light lemon sauce can be found in various places such as the Amalfi Coast which is famous for its growing and use of lemons. In my opinion, the key is to not get too carried away with the lemon. I like to think of this as an olive oil, garlic, and cheese sauce with lemon juice added, rather than the other way around. Try to find the sweetest lemons available.

2/3 cup (147 g) extra-virgin olive oil

4-5 medium cloves garlic, minced or chopped finely

4 Tbl. (57 g) unsalted butter

Fresh basil, mint, or parsley, chopped coarsely

1 1/2 medium lemons

1/2 tsp (3 g) sea salt

500g (1.1 lb) pasta such as fettuccine or ravioli

1 cup (100 g) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (Pecorino also works ok)

1. In a wide pot, start boiling enough water to just cover the pasta. We want to maximize the starchiness of the water as we’ll be using some of it later to help thicken the sauce a little.

2. Zest 2/3 of a lemon. Avoid including the white part. Do this before you cut the lemon.

3. Sauté olive oil, garlic, butter, and lemon zest in a separate cast-iron pot.

4. Squeeze the juice out of the lemons. Avoid including seeds, obviously.

5. Add salt, lemon juice, and the chopped basil/mint/parsley and keep the sauce on the lowest heat setting.

6. In parallel, cook the pasta for 2 minutes less than required.

7. Transfer pasta to the sauce pot. Add enough starchy water from the pasta pot to cover the pasta about 75%.

8. Turn heat up to high and stir continuously until the water is mostly evaporated and the pasta finishes cooking after 2 minutes.

9. If I’m cooking ravioli (see second photo below), I let the ravioli finish cooking completely in its water before transferring them for the next step.

10. Lower the heat to medium and add the grated cheese, stirring it all in nicely.

11. Serve on plates with additional grated cheese and lemon zest on top. For ravioli, I use Pecorino because that is also in the filling.