I love the beach.
I am a summer girl. I love sand beneath my feet, fresh fruit, the smell of sunscreen, the salty waves. All that jazz
Last summer, I was at Bethany Beach, one of several popular beaches on the Delaware coast. (I don’t know why I’m introducing this beach… Do people know beaches? Is that a thing? It’s too late oops I introduced the beach we cannot go back now.)
While at Bethany, I had dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant after a long day of surfin’ and turfin’. (I don’t surf. This post is a trainwreck already). Anyways, what caught my eye of the menu was their specialty seven layer chocolate cake. It looked sinful. Decadent. Calorically ridiculous.
I wanted it.
This post is NOT about that cake. I could not dream of remaking that cake. This post is about the salad I ate on that July night to compensate for the dessert I had set my mind on.
I ordered the arugula salad with lemon vinaigrette and pine nuts because it sounded interesting, fresh, and less-unhealthy-than-the-monster-cake.
It was all of the above, and it inspired the pasta dish I have for you today. This lemon linguine with toasted pine nuts and rocket (wild arugula) is simple and oh so easy.
You toast your nuts while your pasta boils. Once everything is cooked you stir it all together with some fresh rocket and the easiest lemon sauce of all time. This pasta is tart, nutty, and bitter in the best way.
If you’re jonesing for pasta on a summer evening but can’t bring yourself to (a) eat a huge bowl of spaghetti and sauce or (b) spend more than 15 minutes on your dinner, this is the meal for you.
I mean, hey.
Anything to justify cake, am I right?
- 6 oz linguine
- ¾ cup rocket (wild arugula)
- ¼ cup pine nuts
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- juice of one lemon
- salt and pepper to taste
- In a heavily salted pot of boiling water, cook your linguine.
- Meanwhile, over low/medium low heat in a dry pan, toast your pine nuts, stirring often (about 4 minutes)
- Drain linguine. In the same pot you cooked your pasta in, combine lemon juice, olive oil, and ground pepper
- Using your hands or tongs, toss your pasta with the lemon sauce until well combined
- Mix in pine nuts and rocket until evenly distributed
• Make sure your pot isn’t super hot if you’re using your hands to toss the pasta!
• I used lemon pepper in my sauce for more flavor, but normal pepper should work just fine.
I’m so excited to make this! I’ve been looking for new vegetarian recipes 🙂
Aw thanks Sam!
This is so gorgeous — total comfort food in my book!
Thanks, Rachel! Pasta never fails 🙂
Yum, this pasta looks amazing! I love the wonderful combination of fresh flavors. Love your photos. Pinning!
Thanks so much for the support, Cindy!
Your pasta looks beutifully cooked! Perfectly al dente :)! In Italy we also make “pasta fredda” -cold pasta- during summer and I think yours would work perfectly for that! So happy to have found your blog too :)!
Thanks Ema! Great to hear good things about pasta from Italy 🙂
Simple pasta recipes are my absolute fav! Lemony with crunchy toasted pine nuts? I want! Mmm and I love arugula! I can never get enough!
Simple is always better, especially in the summer! Thanks, Allison.
This pasta looks amazing! Lemon is the perfect flavor for the summer. Love how easy this is, too!
Thanks, Gayle! I love me some lemon.
Your writing style is so fresh and funny! I love your sense of humor. And this recipe look delicious, perfect for a backyard barbeque. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much, Kristie!
I’ve made lemon spaghetti before too, liked it very much. Next time, I’ll add some pine nuts and rucola, all sounds so good…
ela h.
Lemon spaghetti is universally delicious 🙂 Thanks, Ela!
I do the same all the time…a healthy dinner totally justifies a high calorie dessert! 😉
Love love love lemon flavored pasta! It’s seriously so simple, delicious, and refreshing. I love how you added arugala and toasted pine nuts. It looks so fancy yet easy to whip up. 🙂
Things that look fancy but are easy to make are the BEST! Thanks for visiting, Tina! 🙂
I totally know/do (or whatever) beaches. I am a BEACH FAN.
This looks really delicious. I really like arugula, never had it in a pasta before…such a great idea.
I’m a beach fan too, Joyti. Thanks for stopping by!
This makes me miss my old neighbor Emily who was from the UK. She called arugula… Rocket, This looks delish.
That’s so sweet! I just think “rocket” is a more fun name, so I generally call it that 🙂
Wow, this looks amazing and right up my street! Definitely my kind of pasta dish with lots of toasted pine nuts and lemon! Delicious- definitely going to try it! 🙂
Thanks, Jess! I hope you enjoy 🙂
I love the smell of sunscreen too! I also love the beach, unfortunately I don’t live anywhere near it though! I love lemony pasta and the addition of the pine nuts and arugula makes it so much better! I could eat this pasta all summer!
Aw, you’ll need to take a beach trip at some point. It’s incomparably summery 🙂 Thanks for visiting, Isadora!
This is so gorgeous!! Looks so yummy 😉
Thanks, Olivia!
yum! what a delicious recipe – can’t wait to try it out and add it to my repertoire thanks for the inspiration.
Thanks so much, Thalia! 🙂