Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Lemon Walnut Pasta

Does it seem like I've been using cookbooks a lot lately? Well, yes, I have. For some reason, I've been browsing through my cookbooks a lot.

Okay, there were a lot of posts about Emeril's new cookbook lately, but even before that, I was spending a little more time with my books.

A lot of the time I get inspiration from the grocery store or farmer's market, but I also browse through books for inspiration.

When I saw a recipe for a pasta with lemon, it sounded interesting. Even better, I had most of the ingredients on hand. And I was in the mood for pasta.

I was originally planning on making it exactly as stated in the book, like I do when I get a book from a publisher for review. But heck, I won this one in a blog giveaway, so there's no reason to be all review-y about it.

The first thing I changed was ingredients. Raw walnuts instead of toasted (okay, I toasted some, but burned them, so i used raw instead.) And then I used a meyer lemon instead of regular lemon.

I had walnut oil - or at least I thought I did.

I thought I had a unopened container, but apparently I opened it before, and ... ugh. Rancid oil is not good. Blargh. So I used macadamia nut oil instead, along with the olive oil. That was fine.

So there I was, reading the instructions. And I realized that the recipe was designed for individual plating with ingredients added to each plate - as garnishes, but also to add flavor. Eh, maybe not. For the dinner I had planned it was just a little too fussy. So I sort of chucked the whole recipe and just kept the basic inspiration.

Sometimes that's the perfect thing to get from a cookbook - inspiration.

Lemon Walnut Pasta
Inspired by Cristina Ferrare's Big Bowl of Love

8 ounces angel hair pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
Zest of 1 large meyer lemon
Juice of 1 large meyer lemon
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
Salt and pepper, to taste
Macadamia nut oil for finishing
Chopped parsley, for garnish

Cook the angel hair pasta in salted boiling water until done.

Transfer the pasta to bowl and add the olive oil, lemon zest and juice, parsley, cheese, and walnuts. Stir to combine. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper, as desired. Since the pasta water was salted and the cheese is salty, you might not need additional salt.

Garnish with additional parsley. Drizzle with macadamia nut oil. Serve hot.
Yum

2 comments:

Cinnamon rolls said...

Did you toast the walnuts?

Donna Currie said...

The original recipe called for toasting them, but after I burned the first batch, I tossed those and put in untoasted walnuts instead.

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