Pasta with Lemon-Cream Sauce

With my husband being deployed, my time is so limited for cooking. So when I'm looking for recipes, it's gotta look pretty darn easy or it's getting passed up. When I first saw this recipe I thought, "oh that looks so good, therefor probably a pain"...luckily I read it, and this is beyond simple. Because it is so simple it is important that you do this right. Salt your water, this is the key to any good pasta. Your pasta water should taste like the sea, this takes more salt than you think, so you should actually taste test it if you aren't sure.  Don't forget to save some pasta water before you drain your pasta! Also make sure you check for seasoning, the right amount of salt will really bring out the flavor of the lemon, and too much pepper could easily over power this sauce. I used bucatini. I thought the small tubes would hold the sauce perfectly, which it did, but let's face it-there's no polite way to eat it. Unless they make different sizes of Bucatini..? I was very excited to find it at the grocery store today, since here in Mountain Home things like Bucatini are hard to find...ha ha. So anyways, this Bucatini was very wide, and impossible to twirl. However I did manage to get it to my mouth...and enjoyed this dish thoroughly. Next time I will use the fettucini it calls for. I made seared scallops to go with, but that will have to be a separate post.

Pasta with Lemon-Cream Sauce
(if you like, add 1 cup fresh broccoli or frozen peas to the pasta just before it's done)

-coarse salt & ground pepper (use fresh cracked, it makes a difference!)
-1 pound linguine (or whatever pasta you want to use...)
-1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
-2 shallots, minced
-1 cup heavy cream
-1 tsp. grated lemon zest, plus 2 Tbs. lemon juice (this about all the zest and juice from one lemon)

-In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions. Reserve 1 cup pasta water; drain pasta and return to pot.
-Meanwhile, in a small pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add shallots, season with salt and pepper, and cook stirring, until tender, about 4 minutes.
-Add cream and lemon zest. Bring to a boil and cook until slightly thickened, about 8 minutes.
-Add lemon juice and season to taste with salt and pepper.
-Pour cream sauce over pasta and toss, adding enough of the reserved pasta water to create a thing sauce to coat pasta.