Rachel Ray's Lemon Spaghetti

While most people can't stand Rachel Ray, I like her a lot! I love her magazine, her talk show, and even her recipes. Tonight I made her recipe for lemon spaghetti. I had originally seen this recipe on this blog and had wanted to try it for awhile. John and I had tried Giada's recipe for lemon spaghetti several months ago and were not impressed so we had high hopes for this version. Overall it was ok. I am thinking maybe we just aren't fans of lemon spaghetti haha. The recipe was tasty, I just don't like how strong the lemon was. If you like lemon this is definitely for you! Also, if you don't like food spicy either reduce the red pepper flakes or omit them because we felt it was a little spicy.

I cut the recipe in half and it made 3 big servings for us.

Ingredients:
Salt
1 pound spaghetti (I used linguini)
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 lemons, zested and juiced
1/2 to 3/4 cup heavy cream (I use light cream)
1 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
Handful flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped (I used dry- about 1/2 tablespoon)
1/2 cup (10 or 12 leaves) fresh basil, very thinly sliced (I used dry- about 1/2 tablespoon)

Directions:
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water and drop the spaghetti into the pot.

2. Heat a large deep skillet over low heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil and garlic and crushed red pepper flakes.

3. When the pasta has been cooking about 5 minutes, add lemon juice, a ladle of the cooking water from the pasta and the cream to the garlic and oil. Raise heat a bit to bring sauce to a bubble.

4. Drain pasta when it still has a good bite to it, al dente. Add lemon zest and half of the cheese to the cream sauce. Season the sauce with salt, to taste. Add pasta to pan and turn off heat. Toss the pasta with sauce a minute or 2, allowing it time to soak up the sauce.

5. Top the plates of pasta or platter with remaining cheese, parsley and basil.