I don’t know where the obsession started…I remember I started drinking Diet Coke with a wedge of lime on vacation in Florida when I was 16. It must have been at some point after that when I switched to lemon since many restaurants don’t have lime available. THEN when I started paying for myself at restaurants, I quickly realized they charge a fortune for pop (soda…{eyeroll}…whatever.) so I started ordering water with lemon. That turned into “can I please have A LOT of lemon?” which turned into Brian adding after I order “she means like a WHOLE lemon.” Once a server asked me if I was planning to make lemonade. I just stared at him, confused. He said, “you know, some people order a bunch of lemons, use the sugar packets on the table and make their own lemonade for free.” 

Me: “Ugh, no. I would never ruin my lemon water like that.” 

I mean, I like lemonade and everything but the amount of work it would take to dissolve that much sugar into ice water is worth the $2.50 or whatever they charge for a drink! 

These days I absolutely crave lemon water and I credit it with helping me give up Diet Coke, strengthening my immune system, and clearing up my skin…you can totally tell when I haven’t been drinking my lemon water. 

I realized a bit of a lemon-mania was forming when I was on vacation with my whole extended family and there was a lemon tree in the yard of the beach house. {angels singing} Nobody should get that excited over fruit, you know?

Then a few months ago, I went with my friend on a road trip up to north Florida to pick up some goats she was buying. We pulled in to the property and saw this immediately:

“Uh, what are those?” Honestly, lemons never even crossed my mind, but yep! “Florida lemons”, they said. “You can have as many as you want”, they said. I didn’t trust myself to have any restraint, so thankfully they just filled up a big bag with more lemons than I would have felt comfortable taking and sent me on my happy, lemon-scented way! 

I truly love the pure taste of lemon in water, but I use them in lots of other ways too…(except never in tea….for some reason I can’t stand it. I know, I don’t make any sense.) 

I love using lemon juice in soups, rice, pasta, marinades, etc. I love using lemon zest in basically all those same things, plus cakes, cheesecake, frosting, salad dressings, and more. The great thing about lemon is you can use a little and really enhance all the other flavors of your dish, or use a lot and make it spectacularly tart and lemony. For example, I use about a teaspoon of lemon zest in my chocolate chip cheesecake, and you don’t taste lemon, you just taste a  delightful slight tartness. Like sour cream or buttermilk. 

Today, I’m going to share a genius recipe from Food52. I’m semi-obsessed with this recipe. It’s just everything I want in a meal…specifically pasta, lemon, and basil. (Expect a “Love Letter to Basil” momentarily. 😍) I try to avoid gluten, so I use either corn or brown rice pasta in this dish. I think corn pasta tastes and feels exactly like regular, but I shop at Aldi almost exclusively now, so I get liveGfree Brown Rice and Quinoa Pasta. It’s really good as long as you don’t overcook it. If you do, it’s mush-city!

Easy Lemon Pasta

(Based on Barbara Kafka’s Creamy Lemon Pasta recipe from Food 52)

Ingredients

1 package pasta of your choice

Zest and juice of 2 lemons (I like to use a microplane zester)

1 lb asparagus, cut into bite size pieces

3 Tablespoons olive oil

1 cup shaved parmesan

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves (at least)

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Toss asparagus with olive oil, salt, and pepper on a baking sheet and roast at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until desired doneness.
2. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, add pasta, and cook until almost done. (About 2 minutes out should do.) Drain, then return to pot.
3. (While pasta is cooking) In a small saucepan, combine cream, lemon zest, salt, and pepper and bring just to the boiling point.
4. Pour cream mixture over drained noodles and add lemon juice. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly until all the liquid has turned magically into sauce and is coating the pasta. Toss pasta with most of the parmesan cheese, reserving a little to sprinkle on top. Taste, then season with additional salt and pepper, if necessary.
5. Divide pasta into bowls, top with asparagus, parmesan cheese, and ribbons of basil. Dig in! (Another delicious topping for this pasta is caramelized onions!)

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed my raving and the recipe. (That sounds like a good new name for my blog: The Raving and The Recipe 😂)

~s