Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Boil a pot of heavily salted water for your pasta. Cook the pasta so it can be added straight into the sauce at the end. If you drain the pasta before the sauce is ready, reserve a mug of the pasta water first.
- Heat the olive oil and butter in a big frying pan over medium-high heat and add onions.
- When sizzling, lower the heat to medium-low and cook for 4 to 5 minutes until the onions are soft.
- Add the garlic and pepper and cook for a further minute or two. Keep the heat on low if you need to prevent browning.
- Add the tomato paste and whisk to combine, cooking for a minute or two.
- With the heat still low to medium, add the cream and whisk to combine evenly. Keep the cream at a gentle simmer by adjusting the heat to low if needed.
- Add the lemon juice and whisk it in quickly. If you have trouble with the sauce curdling, add the lemon juice at the end with the cooked pasta.
- Add the finely grated parmesan in three separate additions, whisking after each addition to ensure it melts.
- Add your pasta straight into the sauce with a splash of pasta water (about 1/4 cup). Let the pasta bubble gently in the sauce for a minute or two to thicken it. Add more pasta water if you need to loosen the sauce.
- Taste the sauce for seasoning and add salt as needed.
- Serve the pasta. You can add extra parmesan, black pepper, and fresh basil leaves.
Notes
If you use dried pasta that takes 11 to 12 minutes to boil, start the sauce about 3 to 4 minutes into the pasta cooking time. Always reserve some pasta water before draining, as it helps the sauce. The pasta will soak up the sauce quickly, so you might think you have too much sauce initially; it reduces as it sits.