British cook Delia Smith is known for her straightforward recipes, and her lemon pasta would only take 10 minutes to make.
After eight or so hours at work, plus attending to other things in the evening, slaving away at the stove for hours isn’t my idea of a relaxing activity.
I like to put together healthy meals that are quick to make and, most importantly, are enjoyable to eat.
Gathering all the ingredients together in my apartment, I made a few (what I thought were) minor adjustments.
Delia Smith’s recipe calls for whole peppercorns and fresh herbs, but I swapped those for grounded black pepper and dried herbs in a jar.
Lemon pasta recipe
Serves: four
Makes in: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
- 450g dried pasta
- Four tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Two level tbsp fresh lemon zest
- Two tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 12 whole peppercorns, lightly crushed in a pestle and mortar
- 40g fresh basil
- 40g fresh mint
- 50g fresh rocket leaves
- Six spring onions, trimmed
- Two garlic cloves, peeled
Method
1. Delia Smith likes to heat her pasta bowels, so they are nice and warm before serving.
2. In a large saucepan, heat up 4.7 litres of water with one level tbsp of salt, then bring it to the boil.
3. Add the pasta to the boiling water, stir once, then leave to boil for 10 minutes.
My recipe adjustments
Heating the pasta bowls is a nice touch, so I like to do that when making meals.
But, when it comes to boiling pasta (I chose linguine, by the way), I find it much more convenient to boil the water from the kettle and pour it into the pan.
Nor did I bother with measuring the water in the pan; I just put in the amount of pasta I knew would be ideal for two servings, then filled the pan with water and added only a sprinkling of salt.
Too much salt isn’t great for your health, as it can lead to higher blood pressure.
Next steps
4. While the pasta is boiling in the pan, put all the other ingredients together and whiz in a food processor, with another teaspoon of salt. Then add the sauce to drained pasta, and serve in warmed pasta bowls.
Delia Smith said to do “one big whiz till the herbs are chopped”, but my herbs were already in tiny little pieces. Knowing that this was meant to be a sauce, its chunky texture got me a bit concerned that I had ruined dinner.
Going off-piste, I added more olive oil, lemon juice and fresh rocket to blend it into a sauce, and it worked!
Once I mixed the sauce with the drained pasta, it looked really professional; I just wish I had pinenuts and cheese to add to the pasta, as I think it would have gone really well together. Instead, I had créme fraiche in the fridge, so I added a dollop of that and it all tasted delicious.
