Aromatic, sweet yet tangy Meyer lemons are key to our Meyer Lemon Pasta Sauce; other lemon varieties will yield a too tart, harsh sauce. The cooking process calls for the preparation of two sauces which are reduced and then combined to form silky Meyer Lemon Pasta Sauce. It’s wonderful with any cut pasta shape but orecchiette, radiatore, cavatappi or gemelli pair particularly well with this sauce. Pair this rich pasta dish with a simple starter such as an Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad and a bone-dry well-chilled Sauvingnon Blanc.
Prep Time: 20 minutes, Total Time: 1 hour. Serves 2 as a main course, 4 as a first course.
Support Cook and Eat at Home. Purchase a PDF of the Meyer Lemon Pasta Sauce recipe for $1.00
Ingredients:
- 1 Tb. Meyer Lemon zest
- 1/3 cup/3 oz. Meyer Lemon juice
- ¾ cup Dry White Wine
- 1 cup Heavy Cream
- 3 Tbs Unsalted Butter, divided into 2 Tbs and 1 Tb
- 1 ½ Tbs Shallot, minced
- Pinch coarse Sea Salt
- ½ Cup Parmesan and Romano Cheeses, freshly grated
- 3 oz. Pasta per person
- Freshly ground Black Pepper
Preparation:
- Zest the Meyer lemon(s) into a 2-quart saucepan.
- Juice the just-zested Meyer lemon(s) into a bowl and set aside.
- Pour the dry white wine into the saucepan containing the Meyer lemon zest and bring to a boil; simmer uncovered until reduced to ¼ cup.
- Add the heavy cream to the reduced white wine and lemon zest, stir thoroughly and simmer until reduced in volume by half.
- In a separate 3-quart saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter over a medium low heat.
- Add the minced shallot and pinch of coarse sea salt to the melted butter and sauté until the shallot becomes translucent, taking care not to brown it.
- Add the reserved lemon juice to the sautéed shallot, stir thoroughly and simmer until reduced in volume by half.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the dry pasta, stir and cook until al-dente.
- Both reduced sauces can be held off the heat until the next step of the recipe; just keep them warm.
- When the pasta is almost done, gently spoon the white wine-lemon zest-heavy cream sauce into the shallot-lemon juice sauce, stir to mix and bring to a simmer.
- When the pasta is cooked, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter to the combined sauce, stirring the melting butter into the sauce and remove from the heat.
- Gently drain the pasta and combine with the sauce.
- Add the freshly grated Parmesan and Romano cheeses, a spoonful or two at a time, to the pasta and sauce, stirring to combine with the sauce until it is thick and velvety.
- Spoon into individual pasta bowls, top with a turn or two of freshly grated black pepper and serve immediately.
- Offer additional freshly grated Parmesan and Romano cheeses at the table.
