Kitchen, Take me Away!

Missing Capri
Have you ever used food to take you away? Or perhaps to bring you back? Have you ever cooked up a meal to help transport you back to a place you love? Well I recently did that.
My husband and I go to Capri most summers, but we didn’t make it this year and on a rainy summer weekday I was missing my favorite island and one of my favorite restaurants, Da Paolino and its perfumed lemon trees. This beautiful island is flush with the flavors of the ocean and the citrus from the trees. So, in an effort to bring me back to this luscious landscape, I decided to prepare a simple plate of Spaghetti al Limone!

Under the Lemon Sky!
I found this great recipe from one of my favorite fellow food bloggers, Smitten Kitchen, and instantly whipped up a taste of Capri. It’s so quick and easy that you’ll feel like you’ve lifted off in no time! Don’t you just love the power of food?!
Summer Out of The City
I made this dish before I made my actual escape to Europe for the summer. I’m just getting back into the New York swing of things from a few weeks away, exploring Croatia and Vienna, which I’d never been to before and we ended the trip with a visit to St. Tropez–a long time favorite! Be sure to follow me on Instagram for pictures from my travels.

Starting our trip in Croatia
Food and Friendship
Now that I’m back in my own kitchen, I’ve got something special lined up for you this August!

Mark Strausman’s Book Launch
As you may know, my good friend, Chef Mark Strausman, has recently released his wonderful cookbook filled with recipes from Freds at Barneys New York. And, on August 7th, at 12pm, we’ll be going live on Facebook to demo a couple of his most popular dishes! I’m so excited to have such a talented chef share his recipes with us and to be able to invite you into my kitchen to watch us cook together.
Be sure to like Flirting with Flavors on Facebook and follow along on Twitter and Instagram, so you never miss a thing!
Ingredients
- 1 pound spaghetti or linguine
- Salt
- 3 lemons
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus additional for serving
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 ounce finely grated Parmesan cheese (about 1/2 cup), plus additional for serving
- Ground black pepper
- Basil leaves for garnish
Instructions
- Cook linguine or spaghetti in well-salted water to your al dente tastes in a large, wide-bottomed pot.
- While pasta is cooking, zest lemons until you have a little shy of a tablespoon of zest. Juice lemons — you’ll have anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 cup lemon juice.
- Drain pasta, reserving 1 1/2 cups of pasta cooking water. Dry out your pot, then boil the olive oil, cream, zest and 1 cup of the reserved pasta water together for two minutes over high heat. Return pasta to pot and stir until coated. Add the cheese and 1/4 cup lemon juice and toss everything together. Add more pasta water, 1/4 cup at a time, if you’d like your dish a little looser. Taste a strand of pasta and see if you want to add the remaining lemon juice. Top with basil and season with salt and pepper.
- Serve immediately, drizzling individual portions with a bit of extra olive oil and sprinkling with extra Parmesan cheese.