The new products end cap at Trader Joe's is the most hit or miss thing I've ever seen. Sometimes I get just about one of every new thing and other times I want absolutely none of it. The last time I went I saw these intriguing black sticks — squid ink spaghetti! I grabbed a package and thought on how to dress it to best showcase the inky blackness of it and not just drench it in a sauce that would cover it up. Some sort of olive oil or light cream sauce was my initial thought, but then my mind (my stomach maybe?) wanted a lemon cream sauce. A game time change made it a garlic lemon cream sauce for this squid ink spaghetti. And that's how we got here and two platefuls and one dog walk later, I'm typing up this very recipe.
Squid Ink Pasta in a Garlic Lemon Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 12 oz. package of Trader Joe's (or any) squid ink spaghetti
- 1 cup green peas
- ⅓ cup onion finely diced
- 1 tsp garlic extra virgin olive oil
- 1 lemon worth of zest
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ½ cup warm pasta water reserved
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Put a large pot of water to boil. Once boiling, salt generously and add in the squid ink pasta.
- Let simmer for 10 minutes.
- In the meantime, in a smaller pot heat up the olive oil. Once it’s warm, add the onions and let simmer for 3-4 minutes or until translucent but not browning.
- Stir well and add the lemon zest and cream. Stir again and bring to a boil. Do NOT walk away.
- Once the mixture starts to rise in the pot (and this happens faaaaast), turn the heat down to low and stir well again. Let heat at low, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes.
- Add frozen peas at the last 2 minutes of the pasta’s cook time.
- Once the 5 minutes are up for the cream mixture, remove from heat.
- Strain the pasta water and reserve a half cup.
- Mix in the lemon juice to the cream mixture, and slowly add in the ½ cup of pasta water while whisking. Add more or less to your desires sauce thickness. Salt and pepper to taste, remembering that the pasta is a little saltier than normal pasta from the squid ink.
- You can add the sauce directly to the pasta or sauce the individual plates to your liking.
Now you can feel fancy in about 20 minutes, how about that? Ooh, or this would make an awesome Halloween themed dish! You could also add chunks of red bell pepper for a spookier effect.
