Ready in 15 minutes with less than ten ingredients, this super simple lemon pepper spaghetti is inspired by classic cacio e pepe and packs in plenty of kale. Rather than creating a lemon sauce with butter or cream, these lighter lemon noodles rely on olive oil, garlic, and seasonings. Try using a long-style pasta for this recipe, like spaghetti or linguini, to get the best results.
- 4 oz. Sugartown Smoked Lemon Pepper Trout Filets
- 8 oz. pasta of your choice
- 3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cups of roughly chopped kale leaves, curly or lacinato kale
- 2-3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- Juice and zest of 1 lemonz
- 1 oz. shaved pecorino cheese plus more for serving
HOW TO MAKE LEMON PEPPER PASTA
- Cook the pasta until al dente. Check the package to see the recommended cooking time. Usually, it is around 10 minutes. Make sure not to overcook the pasta. It should still have some bite.
- Sauté the kale. Give the pasta a few minutes to cook since you want the noodles to be ready at the same time as the kale. Heat the olive oil and sauté the kale until the leaves begin to soften.
- Add the garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper and lemon zest. Continue cooking for a minute until fragrant. Then, stir in the lemon juice.
- Use tongs to transfer the pasta from the pot into the skillet with the kale. Doing it this way allows some of the pasta water to cling to the noodles instead of losing all of that starchy water if you were to shake it off in a colander. (And it is one less thing to wash!) Toss the pasta in the oil and kale.
- Top with additional cheese before serving. Sprinkle on more salt and pepper if desired.
