String Pasta With Preserved Lemons and Asparagus

What to do with an overabundance of lemons? Try making preserved lemons. It is amazingly easy and there are a variety of recipes out there. All one needs to do is to quarter the lemon—I prefer Meyer—sprinkle each piece heavily with Kosher salt, and pack all into a container with lemon juice covering the sour, salty mixture.

I don’t actually 'can' mine. I just set the containers on the kitchen counter for about a month and then freeze them.

What to do with the preserved lemons? That’s the fun part. Since the flavor is remarkably similar to lemony capers, I chose to make a simple pasta with them. Super yummy choice.

List of Ingredients. Amounts are a personal choice.

Roughly ¼ cup of preserved lemons cut into thin half-inch long pieces
A bunch of asparagus sliced into one-inch pieces
2 cups of cooked string pasta of choice (I used vermicelli)
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
Chiffonade of basil (I used ¼ cup)

While drinking a glass of your favorite Prosecco, sauté the chopped asparagus in olive oil until nearly tender. Toss in the garlic and sauté until asparagus is tender.

When pasta is al dente, add to the asparagus with about a half cup of pasta water. Add the preserved lemon slices and toss.

Continue to cook, marrying the flavors together for a few minutes while you pour more Prosecco. Remove from heat. Sip your Prosecco while tossing the pasta with the basil. Serve and enjoy!

Alternative

I often sauté 2 tablespoons of finely chopped Soppressata (a spicy hard salami) with my veggie of choice and garlic.

How do you use your preserved lemons?

What's your favorite Prosecco?

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