Description
A (nearly) dairy free pasta salad that is intensely lemony and perfect for picnics!
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 Lbs.(900 Grams) corkscrew pasta or other pasta shape
- 4 Tablespoons ( 60mL) lemon zest
- 3 Cups (720mL) freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 Cups (480mL) olive oil
- 1 Large bunch basil, leaves removed from stems and cleaned
- 1 Cup (240) grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 Cup (240) pine nuts
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Boil the pasta. Remember that pasta takes awhile when it is in shapes, so let it boil until it is just barely less than al dente. That means that it should be a little chewy, not to say crunchy, because it will continue to cook after you take it off the heat. 2 lbs will probably take about 12 minutes.
- Clean and chiffonade your basil by rolling the washed leaves together into a cylindrical shape, then chopping them.
- Zest your lemons either with a zester or a microplane, and put it in a small dish.. Remember that you only want the yellow part of the skin, NOT the bitter white pith. Also, do this BEFORE you juice your lemons.
- Post zesting, juice your lemons, either with the prongs of a fork or with a juicer. Make sure no seeds get into the lemon juice bowl.
- By now the pasta should be done! Drain most of it BUT retain about 1/2 a cup of water right in the pot.
- Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil and salt into the pasta pot, and mix well.
- Transfer the pasta to a bowl and let it cool for about 45 minutes or until it is at least room temperature.
- When the pasta is cool, add the pine nuts, basil and Parmesan cheese and mix well.