Baked Lemon Pasta

Last week i made this for the family -- i got the idea from Ree Drumond's recipe (from The Pioneer Woman Cooks) but made a few substitutions and add-ins. (p.s. she takes beautiful pictures of her food -- and the method for each ingredient! check it out by clicking on the link!)

I also added another 'tag' to our list of labels... 'rotisserie-chicken-shortcut' -- I usually try to buy a rotisserie chicken on the day i grocery shop. it makes for an easy meal prep! so start looking for new dishes you can use a rotisserie chicken for dinner!

here are The Pioneer Woman's ingredients: (mine are italicized and bold)
1 pound Thin Spaghetti (i used linguine)
4 Tablespoons Salted Butter
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 cloves Garlic, Minced
1 whole Lemon, Juiced And Zested
2 cups Sour Cream (i used heavy whipping cream, my husband HATES sour cream!)
½ teaspoons Kosher Salt, Or More To Taste
Plenty Of Grated Parmesan Cheese
Flat-leaf Parsley, Chopped (i used fresh rosemary)
Extra Lemon Juice
1 rotisserie chicken, sliced

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook spaghetti until al dente.

In a skillet, melt butter with olive oil over LOW HEAT. When butter is melted, add minced garlic. Squeeze lemon juice into the pan. Turn off heat.

Add sour cream (or whipping cream) and stir mixture together. Add lemon zest and salt. Taste, then add more salt if necessary. Pour mixture over drained spaghetti and stir together, then pour spaghetti into an oven safe dish.

Bake, covered, for 15 minutes. Then remove foil and bake for an additional 7 to 10 minutes. (Don’t bake too long or the pasta will dry out.)

When you remove it from the oven, squeeze a little more lemon juice over the top. Top generously with Parmesan cheese, then chopped parsley (or rosemary). Give it a final squeeze of lemon juice at the end.

I then topped it with the sliced rotisserie chicken, you could - of course - cook a couple of chicken breasts in place of a rotisserie!

Serve with crusty French bread and a simple green salad.