──────────────── Ingredients ────────────────

Serving: 3-4 people

• 300g spaghetti / pasta (regular, whole wheat, or mix), (for the shape, I recommend fettuccine! It’s long, flat, and absorbs flavours well…)

• 55g salted butter

• 6-7 cloves of chopped fresh garlic 

• lemon juice (30-60 ml, depending on your preference!)

• 1 tablespoon of salt

• ¼ tablespoon of black pepper 

• 40ml pasta water for cooking, (save around 10ml for the sauce)

• 70g freshly grated parmesan cheese 

• 10g chopped fresh parsley

• optional: 60-80ml heavy cream (makes the pasta extra creamy, however the original is just as good)

Now that we have our ingredients, let’s start cooking! It’s a quick and easy yet cozy meal that takes around 20 minutes to make.

──────────────── Method ────────────────

1. In a large pot, boil your water. Once the water is boiling, add the spaghetti / pasta and cook according to the package. Do not cook it fully yet, as we will cook it more with the sauce later.
   
   

2. Drain the pasta water, and save around 40ml. This is important because it emulsifies the sauce, makes it creamier and also helps it cling / stick to the pasta.
   
   

3. While the pasta cooks, prepare the sauce. Melt the butter in a large skillet and cook your chopped garlic until fragrant, but don’t let it brown or burn.
   
   

4. Add in the lemon juice, salt, pepper, and the pasta water to the skillet. You can also add the heavy cream. Stir the mixture and heat gently, but do not boil.
   
   

5. Add the cooked pasta into the skillet. Make sure the pasta is coated well with the sauce. Add parmesan cheese and mix well. You can add a bit of extra water if needed, however this is not a wet pasta dish.
   
   

6. Finally, serve the pasta hot, and garnished with extra parmesan, pepper, and parsley on top!

And it’s done! A quick and easy recipe that will literally save you from this freezing weather. With just a few ingredients, you can create a meal that’s full of fragrance, flavour, and warmth. You can also add proteins like chicken or shrimp to make the meal extra packed. Each bite brings a richness of butter, a tangy, garlic taste, and a perfect hint of lemon for contrast. Seriously, sometimes the simplest and easiest meals can be one of the best and comforting ones. Let me know if you have tried this recipe!

Slagle, Ali. “Lemon-Garlic Linguine.” NYT Cooking, 16 May 2024, cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1025371-lemon-garlic-linguine. Accessed 20 Nov. 2025.