
Quick courgette and lemon pasta is one of those dishes that only takes as long as the pasta to cook - perfect when you're really hungry.
The bright, zingy flavour of the lemon is a perfect on sunny summer evenings when you want something light and lively. The creaminess of the ricotta is a beautiful contrast. Spiralized courgette is often used as a substitute for spaghetti, but we prefer it alongside, so you get both textures in one dish. This super-speedy dish makes a lovely light supper for two people, and it's a good budget option during courgette season in summer and autumn - it's one of our favourite cheap family meals.
Ingredients
- 150g (5oz) pappardelle pasta
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 courgette, grated
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
- Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 3 tablespoons ricotta cheese
WEIGHT CONVERTER
Method
- Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water for 10 mins.
- While it is cooking, heat the olive oil in a pan, stir in the grated courgette and garlic and cook for 3 mins.
- Add the lemon zest and juice, and the ricotta cheese, stirring so the ricotta melts down into a sauce.
- Drain the pasta, season well and stir in the courgette mixture.
Top tip for making this quick courgette and lemon pasta
Add a few fennel seeds for an extra pop of flavour. Before you add the oil to the pan, add a teaspoon of whole seeds and allow them to toast for a minute or so until the aroma of them hits you. Then add the oil and continue as above.

Octavia Lillywhite is an award-winning food and lifestyle journalist with over 15 years of experience. With a passion for creating beautiful, tasty family meals that don’t use hundreds of ingredients or anything you have to source from obscure websites, she’s a champion of local and seasonal foods, using up leftovers and composting, which, she maintains, is probably the most important thing we all can do to protect the environment.