Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Lemon Pasta Salad

After all the cold and freezing temperatures we have had recently, this week we saw a surprising warm up. The weather was almost spring like, so what did I do to celebrate? Other than using the opportunity to go for long walks that I missed a lot these past few weeks, I also made a light summery lemon pasta salad. The idea was to recreate a dish I remember having in a  restaurant once, and I put together ingredients that I thought would have been used in the original recipe. The bad news was that this was not exactly what I was looking for,  and the good news....this tasted pretty good too and I am looking forward to making this many more times in the spring and summer. I thought the earthy taste of celery and the light citrusy taste of the lemon provided an interesting contrast in flavors and the spice from the crushed chilli flakes added the right hint of spice without making it spicy. 

Before moving on to the recipe I just wanted to share a tip I picked up from my mother in law. Just before extracting juice from a lemon, place the lemon (uncut) on a flat counter or a flat surface and with the palm of your hand exert gentle pressure and roll the lemon a few times. Then cut the lemon and proceed to extract the juice as usual. This makes it easier to juice the lemon and yields more juice from the lemon. Try this tip the next time you use a lemon, it really does make a difference :-)

Photobucket


Ingredients and Method to make Lemon Pasta Salad
250 gms (8.8 oz ) of whole wheat spaghetti  (half of a regular pack of spaghetti) (can be substituted with equal quantity of angel hair pasta too)
1 large carrot grated
2 stalks of celery cut very fine
2 tbsp olive oil
Juice of 1 small lemon (or to taste) (see notes)
handful Italian parsley (cut fine)
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
Crushed red chilli flakes (according to taste)
salt according to taste

Cook spaghetti as per manufacturers instructions and drain and keep aside.
In a large bowl add grated carrot and cut celery and mix together.
Add cooked spaghetti to this and mix well.
In a separate bowl add olive oil and juice of one lemon,salt according to taste and Italian seasoning and give it a good mix.
 The copyright of this content belongs to Veginspirations.com
Pour this mixture on the pasta  + vegetables and mix well.
Add crushed red chilli flakes as per taste and mix again.
Garnish with Italian parsley and serve cold.
Serves approximately 3

Notes
In case you do not plan to use red chilli flakes, you may need to reduce the amount of lemon juice slightly maybe use half the quantity
You can also use other types of multi grain spaghetti or even plain regular spaghetti for this dish.

I am sending this pasta off to Its a Vegan World - Italian being hosted by Vaishali
Since this pasta got created entirely in my kitchen this one also is off to the Original Recipe Event being hosted by Lore



Lemon-dill Lentil Orzo Salad on Foodista

47 comments :

FH said...

True! It's like Spring already. Beautiful birds are out and allergy is on too! :D

Pasta with Lemon, perfect salad to have, enjoy. I love the header too, lovely! :)

Trupti said...

salad looks very delicious Usha. I am ready to eat that plate.

Trupti said...

salad looks very delicious Usha. I am ready to eat that plate.

Varsha Vipins said...

warm here too..:)Pasta looks comforting n thanks for the tip..:)

Deepa Hari said...

Pasta with lemon sounds great...nice recipe Usha.

Anonymous said...

nice recipe... I like the combination of lemon and pasta... should try it the next time I make pasta :)
one question - could you suggest some brands for whole wheat sphagetti?

Unknown said...

Usha, what a coincidence: I just wrote today about the lovely warm weather we've been having here these past few days. Great minds?
I love this pasta. Lemon is such a great flavor for pasta, and it just brightens the dish up. Thanks for sending it in to It's A Vegan World: Italian.

Cham said...

When the whole US is turning better in weather, here in CA is pouring and little chill. But we already had a beautiful summer weather pattern , I got my first roses ! Like the lemony flavor pasta looks tasty!

Myvegfare said...

hi usha, looks very delicious must try this way next time & about the lemon thingy, my dad taught me that, I do it the same way before i take the juice out!!!, here the weather is still cold!!

Sara said...

This looks delicious and healthy - thanks for the tip about the lemon!

suvi said...

looks delicious usha, lovely snap. this is a must try!

Ashwini said...

we too are having lovely warm weather here..Lemon pasta looks yum and lovely salad for this weather..

Anonymous said...

thanks for answering my question Usha :)

Anonymous said...

Thats such a great option for the season..pasta looks yummy..enjoy the season.

Sharmila said...

The salad look so good Usha! And fairly simple too. :-)

Suganya said...

Salad sounds to be so good. Nice recipe. YUM!

Bharti said...

Mmm..I can almost taste the lemony flavor. Sounds delicious.

Unknown said...

wow..good one..love the addition of lemon in pasta..must have imparted a nice lemony flavour..can imagine it..

Amy said...

Yum. I adore lemon with pasta and this sounds wonderful!

Dershana said...

lemony pasta looks yum and easy!

Lore said...

Oh wow, this would make a great summer pasta! Thanks for sharing your refreshing and healthy recipe with the Original Recipes Round-Up :)

Dreamhomeforu said...

Yummy.....Iam going to try this recipe.

Sia said...

pasta with lemon? how delightful...

Deepthi Shankar said...

I love spaghetti .. all those flavors sound very amazing

Laavanya said...

I make a limeade concentrate and for that, the recipe suggested whacking the lemons with a hammer (!) but it really worked and i got a lot of juice. But normally, i roll them on the counter or MW them for a few seconds too. Lemon flavoured pasta is a great way to welcome spring for sure.. :)

Anonymous said...

Thats very delectable.. what a wonderful idea to use lemon for a fresh taste!

Adlak's tiny world said...

a diffrnt and delish salad looks so yummy...

miss v said...

love it!

Nithya Praveen said...

Pasta with lemon...a great choice:).I agree,looks like Spring now.The weather is alot better,i was disappointed to see a lil snow last evening,but luckily dint last for long:)

Pam said...

This looks incredible. I really love lemon with pasta - looking forward to trying this recipe.

karuna said...

offlate i have been having this crazy craving for pastas. this one just gave me a reason to crave for it more. it looks so refreshing

Malar Gandhi said...

Sounds nice and unique to me...a must try one.

Siri said...

Yup! even I feel like spring is already there and love the colorful pasta Usha. Guess what, thats exactly what I do before cutting a lemon - 'roll couple of times'..:))

Cheers,
Siri

A_and_N said...

I love citrusy pasta and this seems perfect!

VG said...

Pasta looks really yummy Usha...May I have some please?

Anonymous said...

Hi Usha ..
Pasta with lemon ..hmm nice combo .Pic looks yummy

love
veena

Priya Suresh said...

PAst with lemon, just delicious:)

Manju said...

well..it just looks lovely and soo fresh..

Priyanka Agrawal said...

this looks good. very homely and healthy, I tried something similar but with a twist. check out my blog :)

AnuSriram said...

Looks delicious Usha! Thats a nice flavour and a wonderful colour!

Vrinda said...

My kid love spaghetti but without vegetables...happy valentines day...

Mahimaa's kitchen said...

pasta salad looks great usha..must be very tasty.

Swapna said...

i can feel the taste... wonderfull.......

Beyond Curries said...

I love lemon flavored pasta too. I have tried it with penne before not with spaghetti. I also love pasta without cheese, so this definitely goes to my list.

Anonymous said...

Yum, what a new twist and a creative one to boot! Looks Lovely!

VV said...

Thanks for checking out the tomatillo chutney recipe Usha, and for leading me to your blog. Your recipes are enticing, need to check them all out.

Smita said...

looks like a yummy dish....very nice blog:)

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