Baked Lemon Pasta

Something you should maybe know about me is that I spend an abnormal amount of time Stumbling. Not stumbling as in walking funny, but Stumbling on the internet. About 6 months ago or so, I came home from work to find that my husband had taken it upon himself to install the Stumble Upon toolbar on my computer. I had seen him use it a few times, and he had been nagging at me for months to install it, and I guess he finally got sick of me saying "maybe tomorrow" and did it himself, knowing full well that once it was on there, I would eventually use it.

My husband is a smart man.

I spend probably a good hour a day Stumbling around the internet, mostly looking for new dishes to make. My "recipes I want to try" bookmark folder is really really long. And I will make all of these things someday.

Well, one happy day, I stumbled across this little gem from The Pioneer Woman.

This is one of those ones that I wish I had tried the minute I saw it. I really don't understand why I didn't.

Pioneer Woman is a blog that probably every food blogger in the world is familiar with, but I personally hadn't spent that much time there. If this dish is any indication of the rest of her dishes, I will be spending a lot more time there.

Lemon? Check. Carbs? Check. Parmesan cheese? Check. Sour cream? Check.

Seriously, these are four of my favorite things, all in one easy to make dish? And the leftovers are great? I could slap myself for not making this sooner. My husband refused to try it, but he's not a lemon fan, nor is he a fan of pasta without red sauce on it.



My husband is not always so smart.

Lemon Pasta(adapted from The Pioneer Woman)

Ingredients Needed:
1 lb pasta(spaghetti is probably best with this dish)
2 cups sour cream
4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
juice of 1 lemon
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp salt
a LOT of grated parmesan cheese(real cheese here, not the green can kind)
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
extra lemon juice

To Make:

Cook spaghetti according to package directions, until al dente. The noodles will cook a little more when you bake them. Set noodles aside. Preheat oven to 350. In a large sauce pan, melt the butter and oil together over low heat. Add the garlic, and cook for 1-2 minutes. Squeeze the lemon juice into the pan(careful not to get any seeds in there). Add the sour cream, and stir until everything is incorporated. Add the lemon zest, and salt. Taste, and add more salt if necessary.
Add the noodles that you had set aside back into the pan, and stir together with the sauce.

Transfer the noodles to an oven safe baking dish, and cover with foil. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove foil, and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Now, in my oven, the top didn't get super brown and yummy looking, so if you want that to happen, set it to broil for about 3-4 minutes, and you should have lovely brown crust-y spaghetti on top.

Remove from oven, and squeeze more lemon juice on top. Then add a generous amount of parmesan cheese, the parsley, and yet more lemon. There will be no doubt in your mouth that this is lemon pasta.

Now, what I just listed is the original recipe from Pioneer Woman. When I made this, I actually halved the recipe, and it was still WAY too much food for one person. I have leftovers for days. So if you're just making this for yourself, quarter the recipe. You'll probably still have far more than any one person can eat in one sitting.

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