| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 18 min |
| Prep: | 10 min |
| Cook: | 8 min |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 pounds linguine
- 2 egg yolks
- 2/3 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
- 1 lemon, zested, and juice of 1/2, plus more juice, as needed
- Salt
- freshly milled black pepper
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
- 2 to 3 tablespoons chopped parsley leaves
Instructions
- Fill just about the biggest pot you have with water and bring to a boil. When friends are coming for lunch, get the water heated to boiling point before they arrive, otherwise you end up nervously hanging around waiting for a watched pot to boil while your supposedly quick lunch gets later and later. Bring the water to the boil, cover and turn off burner.
- I tend to leave the addition of salt until the water comes to a boil a second time. But whichever way you do it, add quite a bit of salt. When the bubbling’s encouragingly fierce, put in the pasta. I often put the lid on for a moment or so just to let the pasta get back to the boil, but don’t turn your back on it, and give it a good stir with a pasta fork or whatever to avoid even the suspicion of stickiness, once you’ve removed the lid.
- Then get on with the sauce, making sure you’ve set your timer for about a minute or so less than the time specified on the package of pasta.
- In a bowl, add the yolks, cream, Parmesan, zest of the whole lemon and juice of half of it, the salt and good grind of pepper, and beat with a fork. You don’t want it fluffy, just combined. Taste. If you want it more lemony, then of course add more juice.
- When the timer goes off, taste to judge how near the pasta is to being ready. I recommend that you hover by the stove so you don’t miss that point. Don’t be too hasty, though. Everyone is so keen to cook their pasta properly al dente that sometimes the pasta is actually not cooked enough. You want absolutely no chalkiness here. And linguine (or at least I find it so) tend not to run over into soggy overcookedness quite as quickly as other long pasta. This makes sense, of course, as the strands of “little tongues” are dense than the flat ribbon shapes.
- Anyway, as soon as the pasta looks ready, remove a cup of the cooking liquid, drain the pasta, and then, off the heat, toss it back in the pot or put it in an efficiently preheated bowl, throw in the butter, and stir and swirl about to make sure the butter’s melted and the pasta covered by it all over. Each strand will be only mutely gleaming, as there’s not much butter and quite a bit of pasta. If you want to add more, then do; good butter is the best flavoring, best texture, best mood enhancer there is.
- When you’re satisfied the pasta’s covered with its soft slip of butter, then stir in the egg mixture and turn the pasta well in it, adding some of the cooking liquid if it looks a bit dry (only 2 tablespoons or so – you don’t want a wet mess – and only after you think the sauce is incorporated). Sprinkle over the parsley and serve now, now, now.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 6 servings |
| Calories | 788 |
| Total Fat | 24 g |
| Saturated Fat | 14 g |
| Carbohydrates | 116 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Sugar | 5 g |
| Protein | 26 g |
| Cholesterol | 114 mg |
| Sodium | 502 mg |
Reviews
So good
Simple to make, but incredible flavors. One of the best, basic pasta dishes I make!
I’ve just watched this recipe being made on Nigella Bites probably for the 20th time. She says “no pepper” on the TV show because it would interfere with the flavours. Also I used to not salt water until it boiled because Nigella said unsalted water boils faster. So I tested the theory. Boiled 2 pots of water, 3 times with fresh water each time, one generously salted, one unsalted. Each time, both pots boiled at exactly the same time. Anyone concerned about eating raw eggs, I actually do (against advice), stir this sauce into the pasta over a gentle heat – but not to the point of lemony scrambled eggs. It’s ok. Love Nigella
DELICIOUS! and easy to make.
I’m eating this as I write this. Its amazing! I didn’t put the parsley in it because I didn’t have any but I don’t feel that changed anything. The one thing I’m wondering is we are basically eating raw eggs right? I mean the pasta was hot when the sauce was poured on but is that enough to cook the egg? Anyways, awesome dish! Love it! Making it many more times in the future!
Delicious!! I never write reviews, but this was worthy. Simple, easy and oh so good! The kids and hubby agree. Putting this in the regular rotation. FYI, I only used 1 lb of linguine, because that was all I had on hand.
Creamy, lemony and every bit as good as all the other rave reviews attest to this dish. Just a quick compare and contrast: I usually like Ina’s recipes, but her recipe for lemon pasta was lacking something. The lemon flavor was just too harsh even with all the dangerously large amounts of butter that the recipe called for. Nigella’s recipe tamps down on the acidic bite of the lemon by combining it with the egg yolk and cream. In effect, it cools down the harsh acidity of the lemon and keeps all the zingy citrus flavor. It’s still a bright bite, but with a velvety and creamy finish. If you try this recipe, you won’t be disappointed.
I’ve made this recipe many times since I first saw Nigella make it on her show back in 2001. It is always delicious. I’ve added sauteed shrimp or chicken and that just makes it even better.
This recipe (and dish) is about as perfect as it gets. Don’t mess with a thing. Truly, don’t: Nigella knows best.
This was very good but I have a couple of notes for next time. Based on comments below, I used half the pasta, which was definitely the right starting point. I also added the cooking water as the recipe suggested and the sauce consistency seemed perfect. However, by the time we were at the table (just minutes later) the pasta had absorbed nearly all the sauce and although still tasty seemed a little dry. I think the key may be to make the sauce quite a bit looser than you think you want to allow for absorption. It’s probably something to play around with. But all in all a keeper!