I tried the pasta al limone from “Searching for Italy” and here are my thoughts

Season three of Stanley Tucci’s Searching for Italy is right around the corner. The word is that Tucci will be visiting food meccas like Puglia, Liguria, and Sardinia. You may recall that in season 2, one entire episode was dedicated to London, England. I was skeptical at first, wondering: A. Why doesn’t New York get an episode? and B. What the hell is he doing in London?

I was very quickly set straight.

In the London episode, Tucci meets with Amalfi Coast-born chef, Gennaro Contaldo, for a quick lesson on pasta with lemon. (I have since researched Contaldo, who is quite famous in the UK, and discovered that he wrote an entire cookbook about lemons. I’ll be ordering that momentarily…) In the blink of an eye, Contaldo whips up the most beautiful pasta with lemon and Calabrian chili pepper. Upon tasting the dish, Tucci’s wife, Felicity Blunt, replies, “Oh my god.” You can watch the clip here.

A lemon-obsessed foodie myself, I put on my lemon apron and entered my lemon-adorned kitchen to make this dish myself. I don’t own any of Contaldo’s cookbooks, so I had merely the aforementioned clip, plus this video, as guides. If you feel so inclined, you can watch the entire attempt over on my TikTok.

The recipe is laughably simple, as is the case with most Italian meals. Before we knew it, our plates were full and ready to be devoured. As usual, Matt and I critiqued every aspect of the dish, trying to determine if Contaldo’s pasta is worth the hype.

In short: yes. It is bright, creamy, and comforting all at once. My attempts to find a single flaw were in vain. Obviously, at risk of sounding like a bad American pizza chain, better ingredients are the key to Italian food. When there are only eight ingredients on the plate, they should be of the highest quality possible. Had I used real Amalfi lemons, top-shelf olive oil, and local pecorino, I might have died and gone to heaven. That said, it came pretty close.

The only issues with our rendition of lemon pasta were the measurements. Contaldo’s demonstrations were based on single-servings, not a whole pound of pasta. Thus, our flavors needed amplifying. If you intend to make this at home, I recommend following my adapted recipe:

Gennaro Contaldo’s Pasta al Limone

Ingredients:

• EVOO

• 2 cloves garlic, sliced

• 1 pound fresh spaghetti or tagliolini

• 1 large Calabrian chili pepper, sliced

• Handful of fresh parsley, chopped

• 2 tbsp butter, cut into squares

• Kosher salt

• Juice of 1/2 large lemon

• Zest of 1 lemon

• 3/4 cup grated pecorino

Directions:

1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Be careful to only fill the pot about halfway to allow for starchy water.

2. Add pasta to the boiling water, stirring as needed.

3. Place a sauté pan over medium heat. When the pan is hot, add a generous glug of oil (at least two tablespoons).

4. Add the garlic and sliced pepper to the pan and let them “sweat,” stirring occasionally for 1-2 minutes. Meanwhile, check your pasta. Once al dente, remove from heat.

5. Using a pasta fork or tongs, add your pasta to the pan, stirring to incorporate.

6. Season with kosher salt to taste. Next, add a ladle of pasta water and stir.

7. Add butter, stirring as it melts.

8. Add lemon juice and parsley. Stir to combine.

9. Add pecorino and stir until incorporated.

10. Remove from heat and serve immediately. Top each plate with lemon zest.

11. Enjoy!

Serves 4.