Sun-Drenched Lemon Pasta with Burrata
A weeknight pasta that tastes like a long Italian lunch. Three pantry ingredients, one perfect lemon, and a ball of burrata melting into the heat.
This is the dish I make when I want dinner to feel like a small celebration but I only have twenty minutes and zero ambition. The technique is barely a technique — you're really just convincing pasta water, olive oil, and lemon to become a sauce — but it works every single time.
Use a good lemon. Not a good-enough lemon. A heavy, fragrant, organic one if you can find it, because the zest is doing most of the heavy lifting here. And don't skip the burrata. Mozzarella will work, but the molten center of a torn burrata is what makes this feel like a restaurant dish.
Ingredients
Method
- 1
Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a rolling boil. It should taste like the sea.
- 2
Cook the pasta one minute shy of al dente. Before draining, scoop out a full mug of pasta water.
- 3
In a wide pan over low heat, combine the olive oil, lemon zest, and a generous splash of pasta water. Swirl until glossy.
- 4
Add the drained pasta. Toss vigorously for 60 seconds, adding more pasta water a splash at a time until a silky sauce coats every strand.
- 5
Off the heat, squeeze in half the lemon juice. Taste. Add more juice or salt as needed.
- 6
Plate the pasta, tear the burrata over the top, and finish with torn basil, cracked pepper, and a final drizzle of olive oil.
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