Linguine and the 2 minute sauce!

If you ask me who inspired me to cook, 2 names would spring to mind...Dr.Lakshmi Nair, also called the "pachakarani" (Food Queen) of Kerala, and Nigella Lawson, also called the "Domestic Goddess". seriously, these 2 women make cooking look like child's play. So today, I present to you one of the simplest recipes ever, and this one's courtesy Nigella Lawson.
Pasta is one dish that I could eat all year around. Seafood penne pasta with white sauce is my all time fav. The very thought is making me drool all over my keyboard...now that's not a pretty sight is it...:P. Anyway, this one does not involve penne, but another fav of mine, linguine. This is how it looks uncooked.

 



 Now, on to the recipe.

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 of 1 packet linguine (depending on the amount you can eat)
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1/2 cup fresh cream
• Grated mozzarella cheese
• Parsley leaves
• 1/2 litre boiling hot water

METHOD

• The first step is to boil water. Once the water starts boiling, add a generous amount of salt. bear in mind not to add salt at the beginning, else the water takes extremely long to boil. the water also needs to be extremely salty to cook pasta, so be generous with the salt!
• While the linguine is cooking away, prepare the sauce. Separate 2 yolks from their whites (Refer notes).
• Beat the yolks until frothy and creamy. To this add grated mozzarella cheese. You can add as much as you like.
• After mixing in the cheese, add cream. Again, adding cream is your individual choice. i love cream which is why i added half a cup. If you want your sauce to be thicker, add more.
• Add lemon zest to this, followed by lemon juice.
• Give everything a final swirl. Your sauce is ready!
• Once the pasta is done, drain out the excess water, and add 2 tablespoons of butter.
• Add 1/2 the juice to this to mix it in.
• Once the pasta is ready to be served, pour the remaining juice on top.
• Add mozzarella cheese as a final garnish.

Notes

• Please note that I have'nt added salt, since mozzarella cheese is salty enough. pepper is optional, but I recommend not adding as it would kill the flavour of the lemon juice.
• When separating whites from yolks, I make a small hole at the top of the egg, and pour out the white. i fell this is the easiest method and a lot less messier than breaking the egg in half and separating with your fingers. Also, when separating the whites, ensure you transfer them to a bowl with absolutely no droplets of water. Egg whites make great omelets, so don't worry about not using them!
• I have been pretty vague with measurements here, compared to my previous recipes, the only reason being that this particular dish falls under the label of "comfort food", so measurements are completely your choice.

So, there we are. Lemon linguine is ready! This recipe is strictly for those days when you cant be bothered to spend any effort in the kitchen, so I hope you have fun making this!

The final product!

Do try it out and let me know what you think! Sending this ober for an event at Akhila's Kitchen titled

Dish Name Starts with L