When I Don’t Feel Like Cooking, I Make This Pasta! Quick and Easy Dinner

Pasta with Garlic Confit and Lemon

Incredibly tender, silky, and creamy pasta with a deep roasted‑garlic flavor and a bright lemon kick.

Ingredients (2–3 servings)

Pasta (spaghetti or capellini work best) – 250 g / 8.8 oz

Garlic confit – 150 g / 5.3 oz

Heavy cream (33% fat) – 120 ml / 4 fl oz

Parmesan, grated – 40–50 g / 1.4–1.8 oz

Juice of ½ lemon

Zest of ½ lemon

Egg yolks – 2

Small bunch of parsley

Italian herbs – optional

Salt

Black pepper

Pasta cooking water (save it – this is key)

How to Make Garlic Confit (if you don’t have it ready)

Peel about 200 g / 7 oz of garlic.

Completely cover the cloves with vegetable or olive oil.

Roast at 100–110°C / 212–230°F for about 1.5–2 hours, until the garlic is super soft and golden.

This confit garlic is what we use in the recipe.

Making the Sauce

In a blender, combine:

garlic confit

cream

Parmesan

lemon juice

lemon zest

egg yolks

parsley

salt and black pepper

Blend until absolutely smooth and creamy.

Cooking the Pasta

Boil the pasta – cook in generously salted water until al dente. Before draining, reserve about 250 ml / 8.5 fl oz of the pasta water.

Combine – transfer the hot pasta to a skillet.

Important: keep the heat on low or turn it off completely. Pour in the prepared sauce.

Get the perfect texture – toss the pasta quickly, adding the reserved pasta water little by little until the sauce turns silky, glossy, and coats every strand perfectly.

⚠️ Most Important Tip

Don’t overheat the pasta after adding the sauce.

The sauce contains egg yolks – if the pan is too hot, they’ll scramble and you’ll end up with something like an omelet instead of a creamy sauce.

Rely on the residual heat of the pasta and stir in the hot pasta water gradually to keep it smooth.

A Few Extra Tips from Me

I’d add a couple more touches to make it even better:

a crack of fresh black pepper right before serving

another 15–20 g / 0.5–0.7 oz of freshly grated Parmesan on top

a sprinkle of finely chopped parsley

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