Americanized Spaghetti Al Limone (美式香寧義大利麵)
2
servings10
minutes25
minutes35
minutesThe grocery store ran out of white sauce, Alfredo sauce, anything that wasn’t tomato-based. I live in New Jersey, we have the largest section of Italian sauces anywhere in the country in our stores, but somehow they still ran out. Kuan was disappointed because we had our heart set on this meal, as we make a variety of it quite often. I told her, “I got this.” A white sauce can be made with a few simple ingredients (i.e., heavy cream plus butter), and thankfully the grocery store still had those in stock.
Ingredients
14 oz Premio Sweet Kale Chicken Links
1/4 tbsp Olive Oil Spray
1 bunch Asparagus
1 head Broccoli
1/2 pound Spaghetti
Salt (for pasta water)
- White Sauce
1 Lemon
1/2 cup Heavy Cream
2 tbs Butter
2/3 cub Parmigiano Reggiano (Parmesan) Cheese
- Garnish
White Pepper
Red Pepper Flakes
Directions
- Make/purchase your favorite sausage. I used sweet Italian chicken sausage with kale (e.g., don’t worry, the kale doesn’t impart an appreciable flavor). Convert each sausage into 5 small meatballs.
- Cut the asparagus, keeping only the soft tips. Cut the broccoli into small florets. Blanch the asparagus tips and broccoli for 10 minutes.
- Start boiling the water for the spaghetti. And salt with your favorite salt of choice, I usually use garlic salt, but the world is your oyster. Follow the instructions and cook until al dente.
- Spray a light coat of olive oil on a medium hot pan, and place meatballs symmetrically into the pan. Let the meatballs sear on the top and bottom for 3 minutes per side. Sear one edge for 2 minutes. You should still see pink, but you will finish their cooking in the white sauce.
- White Sauce
- Use a vegetable peeler and remove some of the lemon skin for garnish. Zest and juice (1 tsp) the lemon; save the juice for later. Heat the heavy cream over medium-low heat and whisk, cooking for 1 to 2 minutes, until it becomes frothy. Add the lemon zest. Let simmer while whisking melted butter one tablespoon at a time into the sauce.
- Add the meatballs, asparagus tips, and broccoli to the white sauce and let simmer gently for 10 minutes.
- Spaghetti
- Drain the spaghetti and add it to the white sauce. Add the lemon juice and Parmigiano Reggiano, begin mixing all the ingredients, or save it for the plating like I usually do.
- Plating
- Plate the pasta, add the white pepper, and garnish with the lemon peel.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Adapted and Americanized from Katie Quinn’s Recipe of the Month (Feb 2021) for Patreon members.