spinach and sundried tomato linguine with a silky lemon cream sauce

i am writing this as the little one scarfs down his yogurt so i need to be quick.

uh oh, i think i hear spoon hitting empty bowl.

this one bowl meal comes together quickly and is another one of those "throw in whatever you have and love" methods.

the basics-

cook some pasta of your choice.

while that is cooking wash and chop your vegetables (i think cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, any type of hearty greens would all be happy additions here). pour some olive oil or a couple pats of butter into a saucepan and put on medium heat. once that warms up, add 2 or 3 cloves of chopped garlic. stir constantly so the garlic doesn't brown or burn, then pour in 1 cup heavy cream.

note- use heavy cream, not half and half or whole milk. i only make cream-based sauces a couple times a year since they are so rich, but you really do need the weight, silkiness and decadence of the heavy cream here.

stir and add lemon juice from 1 or 2 lemons and 1 tsp lemon zest. stir and then add in 1/2 to 1 cup of grated parmesan or romano. stir, stir, stir. taste and add salt and pepper as desired. add some red chile pepper flakes if you want a little kick.

i cheated a little and cut out the step of sauteing the spinach first, but if you don't want the spinach to have a little bite to it, saute it and your other veggies for a few minutes to soften.

i put the spinach and sundried tomatoes in the bottom of a large bowl, then drained the pasta and placed the pasta on top of the tomatoes and spinach. i let it sit for a minute so the heat from the pasta could start to soften and wilt the spinach, then i added the lemon sauce and mixed it up well.

i like mine lemony to the extreme, so i always add a couple more hits of freshly squeezed lemon juice once it hits my bowl.

chow down.