Lemon Pesto Pasta: Garlicky Fresh |Cooking With Amanda

This lemon pesto pasta is my go to picnic recipe. I'm admittedly ridiculously picky when it comes to savory food. I have the palate of a small child and would happily (and almost do!) live off of chicken strips, pizza, hamburgers and sweets. That poses a problem at picnics where people are usually eating "fancy" noodle salads and well... salad. I don't eat any of that so I'm usually attacking the meat and sweets table.

So you can imagine that it was a pretty awesome moment for me when I found this lemon pesto pasta recipe! It tastes great warm, room temperature and even cold! It'd also be a great dish to take on the road. I don't know about you, but I've had it with sandwiches on road trips. Gimme pasta!

I added quite a bit of garlic to the dish. If you're not a fan, definitely leave that out. Job interview tomorrow? You'll also probably want to scale that back to 1 or 2 cloves.

I've tried this lemon pesto pasta with both homemade and store bought pesto and while I'm usually all for store bought items to save time, homemade makes a huge difference here! I recommend this homemade basil pesto recipe. Plus if you happen to have a basil plant growing wildly, it's the perfect way to get that under control.

I'm going to be honest here and say that I have no clue what kind of pasta I used because my husband threw away the bag without telling me (darn him for cleaning up, right?!) You can use any type of short pasta, but I recommend orecchiette.

You can also use regular pasta, whole wheat pasta, or gluten-free pasta. Whatever your family enjoys will work here!

Looking for some more goodies to take to that first spring picnic? Try these gluten-free no-bake cookies! They're quick and easy to put together and sure to be a crowd pleaser. This gluten-free banana bread is also perfect picnic fare!

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Lemon Pesto Pasta Recipe

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Ingredients

1 teaspoon olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
8 ounces whole wheat pasta, or gluten free - i recommend orecchiette
1/3 cup pesto
1/4 cup fresh basil, sliced
2 tablespoons pecorino romano, or parmesan, grated
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1-3 teaspoons lemon juice, if needed
salt and pepper

Directions

In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat the olive oil until hot and then add the minced garlic.
Cook, stirring ocassionally, until the garlic just starts to turn brown, about 1-2 minutes. Set this aside.
In a large pot, cook the pasta according to the package instructions.
Drain the pasta and return the pasta back to the pot. Add the cooked garlic, pesto, basil, cheese, lemon zest, and if you need to add some extra liquid, add the lemon juice.
Stir thoroughly to make sure all the pasta is coated.
Add salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.
Refrigerate any leftovers for up to 5 days.

Source: Adapted from Lemony Pesto Pasta with Peas from The Lemon Bowl.

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