Linguine With Lemon Sauce

THANK YOU!

I may have seen one too many recipe adjustments to make things "healthy" recently, but the spate of "can we make this without the cream and butter?" questions made me roll my eyes like a teenager.

Eat cream and butter and cheese, people. These are real food. Entire countries eat these foods daily, in reasonable amounts, and are far healthier than we are.

It is only 4 Tbsp of heavy cream people. And calories per Tbsp of cream versus oil? There are 51 calories per Tbsp of heavy cream, versus 119 calories per Tbsp for olive oil. The dish is wonderful using that small amount of heavy cream, using an oil changes it, and is also more caloric.

This was delicious!! A perfect spring recipe I'll pass to everyone I know that cooks.lol
Increased sauce by about 50%. (3 T butter/ 6T cream etc.).Added 1/2 lb shrimp and roasted asparagus. Not a drop left in anyones bowls.

I have to admit that I get a little irritated by people freaking out about butter and cream. French and Italian cooks use both, and those countries do not have the obesity problem that we have in the US. If you read the latest research about fats you will see that much of what was forced on us for decades is outdated.

Make it with Skim milk or hot water. Save a few calories, feel trendy and virtuous and it will taste awful.

Please dear friends. Make it as recited. It is a perfect recipe: simple, foolproof, and delicious. I regret to say this, perhaps but not really, as it is likely unpopular: if you are confronted with good recipes that feature things you don’t eat or of which you are afraid, move on. There are cookbooks of every stripe these days. You can find a good recipe that fits with your regimen.

I had buttermilk in the refrigerator, not cream, so I made it with that. I loved it! The buttermilk and lemon each amped the other up, at least to my taste buds.

I agree! I'm definitely down with the small amount of cream and butter in this recipe. This is a wonderful and simple recipe and shows perfectly how just a bit of cream, butter and good cheese can make a dish. This is like indulging...without really going totus porcus. People! Enjoy!

Superb recipe, why are ppl so concerned with "real" butter and "heavy cream". Unless you don't know when to push the plate away you shouldn't even want to think of swapping out these ingredients.
Enjoy life GEEZ....

I'm in chemo treatment and it's hard to find tummy satisfying meals. Pasta has been a mainstay for me, maybe it's comfort food and starchy so it rests well in the digestion. This recipe was perfect for me. Yes it was calorie dense but so tasty. I read the comments and doubled the recipe and glad I did so I can have left-overs. I just didn't have the energy to adapt for calories or tweaking but I'm ok with that. Thanks Pierre!

Stick to the rx measures for proper balance of flavors. If you don't have fresh lemon or Reggiano Parmigiano don't make it. Flavors are very transparent, so it needs the pungency of fresh lemon and nutty bite of RP cheese. Very satisfying on its own, with a grating of fresh black pepper, but it begs creativity. Try a handful of peas, crisp sautéed leeks, mb fresh thyme/chix or sauteed shrimp/garlic. Recipe reports 4 servings, but it will yield only 2 main servings.

Try using pasta water in the sauce. It really helps the dish come together nicely. My boyfriend does this all the time

this recipe is flawless.. and if you had a few hazelnuts,
i won't tell a soul..

Followed the recipe as written except that I added finely chopped roasted hazelnuts to the butter (thanks to whoever suggested that below) and added a bit of reserved cooking water before the parmesan. My GF said it was the best meal I've ever made her (a pretty low bar, but still!).

There was another lemon pasta recipe posted in this column fairly recently which didn't have the parmesan but did call for lots of black pepper. When I tried that one I added the cheese anyway and it tasted great. To me the cheese and the lemon flavors don't compete and I think its a better lemon pasta as a result. Without a doubt add black pepper to this one. The only other variation is I used tagliatelli instead of linguini.