🍝 Pasta
Caramelized leek pasta
Buttery, lemony, and quietly dreamy
⏱️ Time estimate: about 30 minutes
Melt-in-your-mouth leeks, shallots, and garlic get caramelized in butter, then tossed with pasta, lemon, chives, and parmesan for a rich but not heavy weeknight bowl.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 leeks, chopped and rinsed, white and light green parts only
- 1 medium shallot, diced
- 4 large cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for pasta water
- 8 ounces dried rigatoni, penne, or fusilli
- 1/2 lemon, zested and juiced
- 1 small bunch fresh chives or another herb of choice
- Parmesan cheese, for serving
Instructions
- Start the leeks. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large high-sided sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add the leeks and shallot, sprinkle with salt, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft and caramelized.
- Add garlic. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant.
- Cook the pasta. While the leeks soften, boil the pasta in generously salted water until al dente.
- Toss together. Add the drained pasta to the leeks along with the remaining butter and toss to combine.
- Finish. Stir in the lemon zest and juice, half the chives, and a generous shaving of Parmesan.
- Serve. Top with the remaining chives and more Parmesan.
Leeks really are the soft-spoken stars here, all sweet and buttery once they’ve had a proper slow cook.