Lemon Pasta with Peas
Five ingredients and fifteen minutes for about $1.34 a serving: pasta, frozen peas, lemon, parmesan, and butter. The peas cook in the last two minutes of the pasta's boil, the butter melts in the same pot, and a splash of the starchy pasta water turns the parmesan into a sauce rather than a lump. That is the whole technique, and it works because lemon zest does an enormous amount of flavor work for fifty cents. It is the dinner to make when the fridge is nearly empty, when you are eating alone, or when the month has been expensive. Add black pepper until it looks right.
15 min
4
$5.34
$1.33
Ingredients
Estimated Aldi prices for the amount this dinner uses, based on regular shelf prices and the current weekly ad.
Steps
- 1Cook the penne to al dente in salted boiling water, adding the peas in the last 2 minutes; reserve 1/2 cup pasta water, then drain.
- 2Melt the butter in the pot over low heat.
- 3Zest and juice the lemon into the butter.
- 4Add the drained pasta and peas and toss with a splash of pasta water to loosen.
- 5Stir in the parmesan until melted and creamy.
- 6Season with salt and plenty of black pepper; serve immediately.
Tips & swaps
- Zest the lemon before you juice it — the zest is where most of the flavor lives.
- Frozen peas, edamame, or chopped broccoli all work in the same slot.
- A spoon of cream cheese stirred in at the end makes the sauce clingier.
- Add a can of drained tuna for a protein-heavy version that still costs little.
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Put Lemon Pasta with Peas into your week
Add it to a plan built around this week's Aldi deals, or browse all 50 cheap dinner ideas and pick the rest of the week yourself.
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