MEYER LEMON CREME FRAICHE LINGUINE

From Julia:

MEYER LEMON CREME FRAICHE LINGUINE 

adapted from “Cooking For Mr. Latte” by Amanda Hesser

Cooking notes: mise-en-place is very important here. Make sure everything is prepped in advance, as this pasta cools down quickly and thus must be eaten immediately upon preparation. It makes a great first course. I can also imagine it going very well with chicken.

Salt
1 pound of linguine
a chunk of Parmesan (to be grated)
2 Meyer lemons
3 large handfuls of arugula, cleaned and roughly chopped (Jen:I  use six handfuls)
1/2 cup crème fraîche*(Jen: Trader Joe’s inexpensive and no making, so fast)
freshly ground black pepper

Bring water to boil in a large pot. When the water is boiling rapidly, add salt (generously) and then the pasta.

While the pasta cooks, grate a handful of parmesan into a large bowl and zest the two lemons into the bowl. Add the arugula to this bowl as well. Juice one of the lemons and reserve the juice**.

When the pasta is cooked (make sure it’s still al dente), quickly drain it and add it to the serving bowl that’s holding the cheese and lemon zest. Don’t worry about getting the pasta completely dry. It should be slicked with water, as that will help thin out the cheese and the thick crème fraîche to a tossable consistency.

Next, add the lemon juice and toss again. Last, add the crème fraîche and continue to toss well, until the sauce is well-distributed, the arugula is wilted, the cheese is melty. Grind some pepper into all this and toss once more. 

Serve immediately.

Author:   Commercial  *crème fraîche is expensive! If you want to make your own, at a slightly better price and with the satisfaction of do-it-yourself, here’s a recipe. I confess I’ve never tried it, but it does sound nice and simple. Jen: forget making, use Trader Joe’s, good price, too.  Julia:  I used to make my own Creme fraiche when in Amherst.  I used to make cold strawberry soup as served at the Deerfield Inn in Deerfield Mass, home of Deerfield Acadamy and a lovely colonial town with museums.  The Inn served this cold strawberry soup only when local strawberries were being harvested.  They were absolutely delicious, the soup was, and after I made it a few times, I added a bit of Grand Marnier and it was (in my opinion) even better.

The linguini is so easy (six ingredients if you include the pepper), and it is so delicious!