Spaghetti with Lemon and Garlic Breadcrumbs

Happy Monday! It is the first day of the week and I am sat thinking that the weather is not helping to chase away those Monday morning blues. But I will start the week as I mean to go on and so am using the 5 Second Rule to kick me into action.

Today is Meat Free Monday and so on the menu tonight is Spaghetti with lemon and garlic breadcrumbs as Featured in Nigellissima (2012). I love this recipe as it is quick and easy and on days when we are eating at different times just as easy to make for one as it is four. One word of warning, you definately need the startchy water in this dish to amalgamate the sauce otherwise the spaghetti and breadcrumbs can be a little dry.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 400g Spaghetti
• Sea salt flakes
• Olive oil
• 1 Unwaxed lemons
• 1 Cup breadcrumbs
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Black pepper
• Fresh flatleaf parsley

Method

1. Bring water to the boil adding salt when it starts to boil. Add the pasta, stir with a pasta fork or your equivalent and let the pasta cook according to packet instructions, tasting a couple of minutes before it’s meant to be ready.
2. Warm the 1 tablespoon regular olive oil in a non-stick frying pan and add the lemon zest and add one clove of crushed garlic . Next add the breadcrumbs and toast by stirring them in the warm pan until they turn a deep gold. Remove immediately to a cold dish.
3. Important step: before draining the pasta, remove a cupful of the starchy water for and reserve for the sauce.
4. Tip the drained pasta back into its own cooking pan, then add the extra-virgin olive oil and half the lemon juice and toss to combine in the hot pan until a lot of the liquid is absorbed. Add the dried chilli flakes and salt (to taste) and grate in (or mince and add) the garlic, and toss again, adding some pasta-cooking liquid to help it amalgamate into a sparse but gleaming sauce. Season to taste and to check whether you want to add the remaining lemon juice.
5. Mix the chopped parsley into the toasted breadcrumbs and add most of the breadcrumb-parsley mix to the pasta, tossing well.
6. Divide between 4 warmed bowls and sprinkle the remaining lemony, parsley-flecked breadcrumbs over each.