Pasta with Artichokes and Capers in a Lemon Butter Sauce

With Passover finally over and another long week coming to an end, I think a lot of people are ready to sit down to a nice big bowl of pasta. I know I am. However, there is a flip side to this. With all the time spent at home around the kids, I find myself snacking more than I ever used to. It seems like all the kids want to do is eat, and when they have a snack, I have a snack. Goldfish? Sure. Cheez Its? Why not. Pretzels, cheese sticks, Oreos? Yup, yup, double yup! So the last thing my body wants right now is a super heavy meal to end the day. So to fulfill my urge for pasta while keeping it light and trying to use my corona stash of course, I went to my pantry and there I saw my inspiration – a Costco size jar of marinated artichokes.

Artichokes are one of my favorite all time vegetables – I love to steam or grill whole artichokes, roast them with breadcrumbs, put them in a sauce for chicken or add them to a pasta dish. In this recipe, when you add the slight bite from the shallots, the freshness from the lemon and the punch of the capers, you get a light and flavorful pasta that will surely fulfill any craving you might have!

Start out by bringing a large pot of water to a boil. Add salt and then drop the pasta. Cook until al dente according to the package directions.

While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over high heat. Add in the artichokes in a single layer. Careful as they may “spit” some hot oil while cooking from the marinating juices. Once browned, flip and brown on the other side. Then remove the artichokes to a plate and set aside.

While the artichokes are cooking, prepare the rest of the sauce ingredients. Combine the minced shallot, capers, lemon zest, garlic and red pepper flakes in a bowl. Also chop up the parsley and set aside.

Once you have removed the artichokes from the pan, place it back on the stove over medium high heat and melt the butter. Yes, you are reading the recipe correctly, it does call for 6 tablespoons of butter. That may seem like a lot, but I have two things to say – 1: this is the base of the sauce for an entire pound of pasta. So when spread out over the entire dish, which is meant to serve 4 people, it really isn’t that much. And 2: the name of the recipe says Lemon Butter Sauce, so let’s be real, you had to see this coming! Just trust me, it’s delicious and light and you don’t feel like you are eating a bowl full of butter. So as I was saying, melt the butter in the pan.

Once melted, add in the shallots, capers, lemon zest, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper and cook for 1 minute.

Add in the 2/3 of the parsley and stir to combine. Keep the remaining parsley for serving.

When the pasta is cooked, drain, reserving 1/2 cup of pasta water. Add the artichokes back into the sauce then put the cooked pasta directly into the pan as well. Squeeze the lemon over top and stir it all to combine, allowing it to cook for a minute or two so the pasta can absorb some of the flavor. If you feel there is not enough sauce, add some of the reserved pasta water and stir.

Pile some pasta on the plate, making sure you get artichokes and all the fixings in each serving. Sprinkle with some parsley, add a nice fruity glass of Sauvignon Blanc, and enjoy!

One other trick that I did do but is not necessary, is I air fried some of the artichokes and put them on top of the pasta on each plate. They added a nice crunchy texture on top, I definitely recommend it if you have an air fryer.