Lemon and artichoke pasta

I don’t post pasta recipes here very often, even though we eat pasta quite a lot at home – it often seems a bit too boring and straightforward to post (it doesn’t help that 90% of the time we just serve it with a dollop of shop-bought basil pesto).

I couldn’t resist sharing this lemon and artichoke pasta recipe though. Okay, it’s essentially just a lemon and artichoke pesto, so still not the most ground-breaking recipe ever, but it’s suuuuper flavourful, and only takes 15 minutes!

Hear that? As soon as your pasta’s finished boiling, you’re about 95% of the way there… my kind of recipe.

This recipe is perfect for those days when you want something a little bit special for dinner, but don’t want to spend more than 15 minutes in the kitchen (i.e. every day?).

All you need to do is add the pesto ingredients to a food processor and whizz it up. The ingredients are simple (I don’t really see the point in complicating things just for the sake of it), but they go so well together. Marinated artichokes (one of my favourite ingredients on the planet), lemon juice, parsley, a little parmesan… heavenly.

Dollop the pesto on some cooked pasta, give it another minute or two over the heat to let it warm through, and bam! Dinner’s sorted.

Somehow this recipe tastes fresh and summery, but it’s proper comfort food too. Brilliant for sunny days when you don’t want yet another salad…

Of course, if you do want to add a few extra veg to your dinner, you could definitely top your lemon and artichoke pasta with some extras. Grilled asparagus, sweetcorn, edamame, some juicy tomatoes, whatever you fancy.

And just like any pesto, you don’t have to serve it on pasta if you’d prefer not to. Spread it on toast, dollop it on a baked potato, stuff some veg with it… I will definitely be making this lemon and artichoke pasta again soon, and putting aside some of the pesto to use somewhere else!

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4 from 1 vote

Lemon and artichoke pasta

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 10 mins

Total Time: 15 mins

Servings: 2

Ingredients

• 200 g pasta
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 30 g vegetarian parmesan-style cheese (~ 1 inch chunk)
• 2 tbsp pine nuts
• 160 g marinated artichoke hearts (~ 12 quarter hearts)
• Small handful fresh parsley
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• Salt
• Black pepper
• 1 tbsp olive oil (I used the oil from the jar of artichokes)

Instructions

• Boil the pasta in a large pan of water until al dente.
• While the pasta is cooking, add the garlic, parmesan and pine nuts to a food processor, and blitz until the cheese has been broken down. Add the remaining ingredients, and blitz again. Add additional olive oil if you'd prefer the pesto to have a thinner consistency.
• When the pasta is cooked, drain it and turn the heat down low. Add the artichoke pesto to the pasta, and return to the low heat for a minute or two, stirring constantly, until warmed through.

Course: Main meal

Author: Becca Heyes

Note: nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on exactly which ingredients you choose.

Love super quick recipes? Try my 15 minute tomato soup with basil pine nut crumb: