Ready to experience the ultimate flavour adventure? Look no further than our tantalizing lemon caper pasta recipe! Brace yourself for an unforgettable rendezvous between tangy lemons, briny capers, and perfectly cooked pasta…
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Super simple and packed with flavour
- Fresh, clean, and great on its own or as a side dish
- Super quick – great for weeknights
- Use with your favourite pasta e.g. linguine, tagliatelle, spaghettone, bucatini
Ingredients
To make this delicious pasta dish you only need simple ingredients and that magic ingredient – pasta water!
- Spaghetti – I have used spaghetti for this recipe. Most people are familiar with this or have this in their cupboards but you could use any pasta you have.
- Capers – there are different varieties of capers but I like the small nonpareille variety. They are smaller and I use ones that are packed in salt rather than brined as Im not a huge fan of that strong briney flavour. If you have brined capers, you can always rinse them to remove some of the briney flavour.
- Extra virgin olive oil – use a good quality extra virgin olive oil as this forms the base of the sauce.
- Unsalted butter – I like to add butter to the olive oil to make the resulting sauce a little more luscious and creamier
- Fresh Lemon Juice – lemon juice adds some nice zing and freshness to the dish. Fresh lemon is a must
- Chilli flakes – these provide a nice little bit of heat at the back of the dish. You can also use fresh chillis if you prefer.
- Parsley – some fresh chopped fresh parsley adds to the freshness of this dish
- Parmesan – I like a good sprinkling of parmesan on my pasta dishes. If you don’t have it you can do without but you could also use grana padano or even pecorino.
How To Make Lemon Caper Pasta
- Begin by getting your pasta cooking. Use a large pot with plenty of water and don’t forget to salt it well. I usually just add a large handful to make sure the pasta gets seasoned well.
- We want to cook the pasta until al dente, so 1 minute before, remove and drain, reserving some of the pasta water for the sauce. This helps to emulsify with the olive oil and create that silky sauce.
- A few minutes before you take the pasta off the heat, saute the minced garlic in the olive oil and butter for a minute or so, then add the chilli flakes and capers for another 30 seconds of cooking
- Now add some pasta water and then add the drained pasta, tossing frequently. It is this tossing action that helps to thicken and make the sauce nice and creamy.
- Add the lemon juice and parsley and toss again to combine. If the pasta is dry, you can always add more pasta water.
- Plate and finish with some grated parmesan
Easy Lemon Caper Pasta
Brace yourself for our tantalizing lemon caper pasta recipe! A simple combo of tangy lemons, briny capers, and perfectly cooked pasta
Servings 2
Ingredients
- 200 g dried spaghetti
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
- 2 tsp nonpareille capers
- 1 lemon (juice of)
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp salted butter
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley
- grated parmesan
Instructions
- Begin by adding your pasta to well salted boiling water. Cook 1 minute short of cooking time – the pasta will finish cooking in the sauce.
- A few minutes before the pasta is done, melt the butter and olive oil over a medium high heat
- Add the garlic and saute for a minute
- Add the capers, the chilli flakes and cook for 30 seconds
- Add the pasta to the frying pan with a little pasta water (reserve some in a cup) and toss to help create an emulsified creamy sauce. Add more if needed.
- Add the parsley and lemon juice and toss again until combined
- Plate and finish with some fresh grated parmesan and ground black pepper
