Spend enough time on the food side of TikTok and you might have seen the recent respectful
It was between bougie ASMR food creator Emily Mariko and an Italian home cook residing in Germany, Claudia Arrabito. Claudia kindly responded to a video of Emily putting whole squeezed lemon halves into her final dish with an option for an arguably much more appetising lemon pasta (as voted by the internet) that's now gathered some 19.7 million views.
Well, I made the lemon pasta recipe in question (the good one) and wrote down the instructions so you don’t have to fumble through the video with lemony fingers.
It’s super simple, and can easily be made vegan by using dairy-free butter, or just olive oil. What makes this luscious sauce so addictive is the technique of cooking pasta in just enough water to create a super starchy base that emulsifies all the lemon, oil and butter together at the end.
It’s a technique you can also employ when making a to make sure your cheese doesn’t split. This sauce doesn’t contain cheese, and it really doesn’t need it, but feel free to add a dusting of parm for garnish.
Also, make sure you use very thin spaghetti for this recipe, angel hair also works, otherwise, you’ll be slaving over a hot stove for too long, waiting for thick spaghetti to cook through.
Claudia Arrabito’s lemon pasta recipe
The recipe uses both oil and butter but you could use all of either. Source: Camellia Aebischer
Serves 4
Place a large frying pan over medium heat, add:
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 50 g butter
- 1 tbsp chilli flakes, or to taste
- 4-6 cloves garlic, sliced
Cook until garlic just begins to turn golden, then add:
- ½ cup water
- 500 g spaghettini (no. 3)
Allow the pasta to soften slightly, moving around so it doesn’t stick. Season with salt to taste. Keep adding water about half a cup at a time when it becomes dry (but still sauce remains).
When it’s almost al dente, still with a bit of bite, add:
- 3 lemon rinds, finely grated
- Juice of those three lemons
- A healthy fresh basil leaves, about a cup loosely packed
Stir through, then turn off the heat. Allow to stand for 2 minutes to finish cooking, stirring once or twice til the sauce thickens and becomes luscious.
Serve immediately.
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Lemon pasta is popular in southern Italy where lemons are abundant. Source: Camellia Aebischer
