Tri Color Rotini Pasta in Lemon Garlic Sauce

My 130th recipe, “Tri Color Rotini Pasta in Lemon Garlic Sauce”, a quick and light pasta. Honestly, I am not a big pasta girl. I am neither crazy about it or hate it. Even when I visit an Italian restaurant here I would be more happy to try the bread sticks, minestrone soup and dessert rather than having a pasta. But RK is a huge pasta fan. He loves all types of pastas, whether it is light and simple like this one or a spicy one. So I cook pasta frequently at home to appease him. I love simple foods. Which doesn’t need a lot of preparation and has a complicated process. This one is just the one for me. It has few ingredients but with bold flavors. Rotini pasta is a type of helix or corkscrew shaped pasta. In my world it looks very fancy and I love it compared to other pastas. The tricolor rotini pasta which I buy is already fortified with carrot, spinach, potatoes and tastes kind of little spicy. Just a simple lemon garlic butter sauce goes a long way and gives an excellent flavor profile to this dish. Light, tangy and tastes very refreshing 🙂

Tri Color Rotini Pasta in Lemon Garlic Sauce

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Prep Time 8 mins

Cook Time 7 mins

Total Time 15 mins

Servings 2

Ingredients

  

• Tri Color Rotini Pasta - About 3 Cups before cooking
• Water - As needed
• Salt - 1/2 tsp + 1 large pinch
• Butter - 1/4 Cup *Vegans refer to notes section
• Garlic - 4 cloves very finely chopped
• Red chilli flakes - 1 Tbsp adjust per taste
• Lemon - 1 Medium About 1/4 tsp Zest + 2 Tbsp juice
• Basil - 2 large leaves finely chopped
• Grated Parmesan Cheese - 1/4 Cup Adjust as needed

Instructions

 

• First bring a pot of water to rolling boil along with 1/2 tsp of salt. Add the pasta to the water and cook until al dente (for about 8 mins). Drain the water and keep the pasta aside.
  
   
  
   
• Heat a large pan, add the butter, garlic, red chilli flakes. Saute until the butter melts and the garlic flavor infuses into the melted butter. For about 2 mins.
  
   
• Add the lemon juice, 1 large pinch of salt and give a quick stir. Keep cooking for 2-3 mins until the mixture boils and thickens. By now the raw flavor of the lemon would have gone.
  
   
• Add the cooked pasta and toss well until the sauce gets coated well over the pasta. Turn off the flame.
  
   
• Finally add the chopped basil leaves, lemon zest, parmesan cheese and toss well until combined.
  
   
• Serve hot with a garnish of grated parmesan cheese and finely chopped basil leaves.
   

Notes | FAQ

- Garlic flavor should be just infused into the butter. Do not saute until the garlic changes color.
- Adjust the quantity of lemon juice, red pepper flakes, cheese as per your taste.
- Vegans can use Olive Oil instead of butter and Vegan parmesan cheese.
- If you like, you can add roasted veggies like zucchini.