We don’t eat a whole lot of pasta at our house.  It’s not that we don’t care for it or anything.  In fact, I really like it.  I think my wife is probably a little more ambivalent about it than me but she still likes it fairly well too.  However, the fact remains, we just don’t eat it that often.  I’ve posted a few pasta recipes here and there over the past year but I often feel sort of guilty about it as pasta is really so common, is it really necessary to give yet another pasta recipe?  I don’t know…I go back and forth but here we are discussing a new pasta recipe.  The great thing about pasta is that there are so many approaches and the flavor profiles of individual dishes can range from very complex with lots of ingredients to very simple with just a few.  This dish definitely falls into the latter category and really has just a few ingredients.  I chose linguini because that’s what we had at home, so feel free to adapt and change the type of pasta to suit your tastes and what you have on hand.  I do think that the general linguini, spaghetti, angel hair pasta shape works well with this dish.  I used very large green onions.  In fact, they almost bordered more on the spring onion size.  If you can find spring onions, definitely use those!  However, if you can’t, try to find the largest green onions/scallions that you can for this recipe.  Recipe follows after the jump…

Ingredients:

1 Box or bag of linguini

3-4 Bunches of green onions, scallions, or spring onions, chopped on bias

½ Cup Pecorino cheese, grated or shaved

1 Lemon, zest and juice

3 Tablespoons butter

3 Tablespoons olive oil, plus more for drizzling

1 Cup Italian parsley leaves, roughly chopped

Salt and red pepper flakes to taste

Instructions:

• Bring water to boil in a large pot. Meanwhile, chop the green onions thinly and on a bias and set aside.  Chop the Italian parsley and set aside.
• Once the water has started to boil, add a handful of salt to the water and allow the water to absorb the salt and become clear again, add the pasta to the pan and set a timer for 4 minutes.
• Set skillet over medium heat and add the butter and olive oil to the pan. Allow the butter to melt and combine with the oil.  Add half the green onions to the pan and reduce heat to low.  Add the lemon juice and zest to the pan and stir until the juice and butter/oil mixture combine to form a sauce.  Reduce heat to simmer.
• Once the timer has sounded, taste the pasta to determine doneness. You will likely only need another minute or two to get to al dente.  Once you reach the point where the pasta is done, ladle 1.5 cups of pasta water into a measuring cup.  Strain the pasta and set aside.
• Once the pasta is done and strained, turn the heat on the sauce back to medium and begin adding the pasta water slowly, stirring as you go until you incorporate about 1 cup into the sauce.
• Place the pasta back into the pan it was cooked in and pour the sauce over, stirring to combine.
• Add the other half of the green onions, reserving a few slices for garnish. Add the Italian parsley and toss to combine.  If the pasta seems too tight, add a touch more pasta water to the pan and stir to combine.
• Add red pepper flakes and toss again. Add half of the grated or shaved cheese to the pasta and toss.  Taste and adjust seasoning.

To serve, place pasta on individual plates or on a large platter.  Drizzle a bit of olive oil over the top.  Add a touch of flaky salt and red pepper flakes over the top again.  Garnish with the remaining sliced green onions and top with the remaining grated/shaved Pecorino cheese.  Serve while hot.