Okay, so before you maybe shy away from making this because it sounds too hard because of the name… COME BACK! 🙂 No joke. COME BACK. This is not hard and it is SO good. We have officially become obsessed.
I learned so much during this pasta dish & I have been dying to share it with you guys. One of main things I love about HGHF is YOU. You guys are the soul that drives this journey & I am so thankful you guys are riding along with me! A few weeks ago I asked you guys to check in with me. What are you wanting to see, try, etc. One of you guys asked me to make a copy cat pasta from a place locally in STL called Katie’s Pizza. It was their Lemon Strozzapretti pasta. So…. did I have a recipe for it? NOPE. Do I have a recipe for it now…. OH HECK YES!
My Research Continued….
So I did some digging found a picture of what it looked like & then looked on the menu to see the ingredients. Here is what the menu tells me :
LEMON STROZZAPRETTI NOODLE + CHARRED CAULIFLOWER + LEMON BUTTER + CREAM + PECORINO
So I went off of that & boy oh boy. You are going to be loving it. Also I messed around with pistachio Gremolata. I had NO idea how to make it, but thought when I had it awhile back it had something similar, so I messed around with a recipe for a pistachio Gremolata & you know what? I would eat that plain… ALL… THE..TIME. I am going to make it this week with some more olive oil to make it a dip with a baguette. I also put it on eggs hahah so needless to say it sounds fancy, but is so easy too! It will for sure give your family a wow flavor factor. So let’s get started shall we??
So what is Gremolata?
It is a green sauce made of chopped parsley, lemon zest & garlic. THAT SIMPLE…. what?? I know. It sounds all fancy, but let me tell you, you will be making this is a flash. The Gremolata in this pasta needs:
Toasted Pistachos
Parsley
Lemons
Garlic
Chili Powder & Salt
How EASY is Gremolata to make?
In a food processor add the pistachios & pulse until it becomes a fine mixture but still good small bite sized pieces like below
Add in the chopped parsley, lemon juice, minced garlic, salt & chili powder. Mix until throughly combine & then place in refrigerator until the rest of the pasta dish is ready.
AND THAT IS IT. What? Told you, simple!
What other HGHF Recipes should I make?
Healthy Easy Pasta Primavera
Grilled Salmon with Gruyere Creamed Spinach
Apple Broccoli Bacon Fall Salad
Healthy Fall Harvest Salad with Pumpkin Maple Dijon Dressing
Lemon Pistachio Gremolata Pasta
Equipment
- Large stock pot
Ingredients
Pistachio Gramolata
- 2/3 cup toasted pistachios out of the shell
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1/4 cup lemon juice about 2 lemons
- 2 small garlic cloves minced
- 1/4 tsp chili powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
For the Cauliflower
- 1 head of cauliflower
- 1 lemon
- 1/4 olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp chili powder
- 1/4 tsp pepper
For the Lemon Butter Sauce & Pasta
- 6 cups cooked pasta of choice
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 cup half & half
- 1/4 cup lemon juice about 2 lemons & zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp oregano
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 tsp basil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp chili powder
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp arrow root
- 4 oz pecorino or parmesean cheese
Instructions
Pistachio Gremolata
- In a food processor add the pistachios & pulse until it becomes a fine mixture but still good small bite sized pieces like below
- Then add in the chopped parsley, lemon juice, minced garlic, salt & chili powder. Mix until throughly combine & then place in refrigerator until the rest of the pasta dish is ready.
Lemon Pistachio Gremolata Pasta: Preheat oven to 450 degrees
- After you made the pistachio Gremolata from above you will start working on the charred cauliflower! In a large bowl add in the cauliflower florets from the head of the cauliflower. Take the cauliflower floret & cut them in half to where they lay flat on the baking sheet as best as possible.
- Then toss the florets in a large mixing bowl with juice from the 1 lemon, olive oil, salt, paprika, garlic powder, chili powder & pepper. Then roast for 18-22 minutes. While they are roasting you will make the pasta & the sauce. Then throw together. Should come together in those 22 minutes the cauliflower is roasting.
- In large stock pot cook pasta noodles according to package. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water & then, rinse & drain then noodles.
- In a 5-7 qt sauce pan or dutch oven add 2 cloves minced garlic & 1/2 cup butter. Turn on medium low. When it starts to bubble, turn down to a very low simmer. Let it simmer for 2 minutes. Then pour in the reserved pasta water, lemon juice, half & half & chicken broth. Whisk together, vigorously. Continue whisking until the half & half is incorporated. It may try to start to separate but keep whisking & when we start to simmer it will come together.
- Reduce to a medium low & simmer for 5 minutes. Then stir in oregano,salt, basil, chili powder, pepper & lemon zest. Then in a small bowl add in 2 tsp arrow root & 4 tsp warm water, whisk until it becomes a slurry. Then slowly add in the arrow root slurry, until it starts to thicken to your liking.Slowing figure 8 the slurry in. When using arrow root you do not want it to then boil, because it will break apart the thickening components.
- Pour in the drained pasta. Stirring in the pasta into the lemon butter sauce. Let it simmer on low for another 5 minutes. Continuing to stir.
- When ready to portion out on plate. Put the pasta on the plate, sprinkle with a good portion of pistachio Gremolata, the charred cauliflower & shaved pecorino cheese on top!
So yummy and a refreshing and light pasta!!
ah Casey yay!! I am so glad you were able to make it and thanks so much for the incredible idea!
The BEST summer pasta- refreshing with the lemon and light, but super filling. I left the gremolata off for the kiddos (more for me 🙌🏻) and they both inhaled it. So good and so much easier to put together than I originally thought. Definitely making its way into the dinner rotation!
Hi Courtney!! Thanks so much for sharing, it is truly one of my favorites and I feel like looks more intimidating than it actually is like you said! I so appreciate you giving it a try and loving it to put it in the dinner rotation 🙂
Yum! Loved the combo of pistachio and lemon, and that this is a meat-free but flavorful pasta recipe. I was missing half and half and it still tasted great!! I plan to make it again when I have all the ingredients so that it lives up to its full potential 😋 amazing recipe!
ah yay!! Thank you so much for taking the time to comment! I am SO glad you enjoyed this, this is one of my favorites 🙂 Yes, I recommend using the half and half next time to cut the lemon down a notch and be more creamy! I am glad you will be making again! Thanks so much again!
Absolutely delicious! It was light and citrusy. The cauliflower was great and didn’t miss meat at all in this dish. I would recommend cutting back on the lemon a smidge and it would be helpful for the recipe to tell us what 6 cups of cooked pasta equates to in dried. I had to do some googling and math (which never a good idea for me). Thanks for sharing!!!
Thank you so much for sharing!! I will make sure to make notes of both of those things. Yes you can use as little or as much lemon as you prefer & I am so glad you enjoyed it! I will again make sure I note the lemon suggestion to the side as well as the pasta amount. Thank you for taking the time to comment & try HGHF recipes!