Lemon and pasta is such a delicious combination. It’s great for summer nights or lunches and it’s ready under 30 minutes. The pappardelle are tossed in a creamy, tangy, garlicky lemon sauce. And ofcourse with a good amount of dairy-free parmesan in there. Because no pasta is ever perfect without cheese, right?

Here in belgium the weather is quite rainy and cold for summer. Nevertheless these creamy noodles are still enjoyable. This pasta dish is simple because sometimes you don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen or you’re just in the mood for noodles and sauce.

However, there are still a lot of options to make this dish more interesting and to switch it up every now and then;

Try adding a few spoons of tomato sauce/passata to the sauce. the sauce turns into a light pinkish red and lemon and tomato just go so well together, it’s truly a combination made in heaven.
Add some charred broccolini on top, broccoli is another ingredient that goes so well with lemon. And don’t forget the nutrients boost like protein, potassium, and vitamins A, C, E, and K.
Artichoke is another vegetable that pairs well with lemon. I recommend using fresh ones and clean them yourself, cut it into artichoke hearts, blanch them and pan fry them in lots of olive oil with garlic and parlsey. Serve them on top of the pasta, delicious!
Pan fried cougettes with lots of olive oil, garlic and parlsey or even mint are also a nice addition to serve alongside this pasta.
Add a bulb of roasted garlic into the sauce. Instead of adding mined garlic to the sauce, roast a bulb of garlic and squeeze out the flesh into the finished sauce. Cut the top part of the garlic, drizzle with olive oil and salt. Cover in tin foil and roast in the oven at 180°C for 30-40 minutes.

You get it, you can add an array of different ingredients to this lemon pasta. So mix it up, try out some things and enjoy!

Time to cook!

Ingredients

250 gr of pappardelle pasta, or any other long pasta shape of choice
Zest and juice from 1 lemon, or more to taste + etra to serve
3 cloves of garlic
3 tbs of olive oil
30 gr of plant based butter
1 tsp of veggie stock powder
a splash of water
200-300 ml of soy cream, unsweetened
100 gr of grated vegan parmesan, this is my favorite brand + extra to serve
salt and pepper to taste

How to

Start by boiling some salted water to cook the pasta in. Once it has come to a boil cook the pasta al dente, reserve a cup of the pasta water and drain.
While the pasta is cooking, melt the olive oil and butter in a frying pan.
Add the garlic and fry for a few minutes until fragrant but don’t let it brown.
Add in the lemon zest and juice. Let it cook down for a minute before adding the cream and a splash of water.
Reduce the heat, season to taste and leave to cook down for 5-10 minutes until the sauce starts thickening.
When the sauce has thickened a bit, it should still run of you spoon easily, add the parmesan.
Stir to combine, taste and season accordingly.
At this point the sauce should be thick so add some of the reserved pasta water to thin it out and toss the pasta in the sauce.
Make sure that every noodle is covered in the creamy sauce.
Serve with some more lemon zest, parmesan and pepper on top.

Buon appetito!