How to Cook Spaghetti Al Limone | Searching for Amalfi Lemons in Naples, Italy

Part two of my Italy adventure takes us to Naples, an Italian city that's not for the faint of heart. I get the inside track on how lemons have inspired Neapolitan food — plus a cooking masterclass from a local chef (see recipe below).

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Spaghetti al Limone Recipe

400 g linguine
150 g butter
250 g double cream (heavy cream in US)
1 lemon
1 small dried chili, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small bunch parsley, leaves chopped
1/2 cup of grated parmesan

1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil (the pot should be large enough to cook the linguine).
2. Grate the zest of 1 large lemon directly into the double cream. Then fold in the fresh juice of half that lemon.
3. To a large skillet set over medium-low heat, add the butter, garlic, chili and half the parsley. Stir until the butter is melted and everything is coated with it.
4. Before the garlic starts to color, add the lemon cream and slowly stir until it’s combined with the butter.
5. Add 1/4 cup of parmesan and stir to combine. Remove the sauce from the flame and set aside. Don’t worry if it begins to separate; it will come back together when we stir it again later.
6. Add the linguine to the boiling water, and cook for 4 minutes less than the package recommends.
7 Drain the linguine, reserving a couple cups of the hot cooking water. Add the linguine to the sauce and carefully toss to the coat each strand.
8. Add a ladle-full of cooking water until it is absorbed by the pasta. Keeping adding water until the linguine is finished cooking - it should be al dente, not mushy.
9. Add the remaining parmesan and parsley. Serve immediately.

(Nicole) So, you've ridden
a gondola in Venice,

eaten gelato in Florence,

you think you've seen Italy;

you haven't.

No one earns that badge
until they've been to Naples.

Naples is not for the faint of hearts,

it's crowded,

chaotic,

and tatted up.

But man, does this place have soul.

It's full of characters

and around every corner

it's a diamond in the rough.

That's what kept me coming back here

for two decades.

And just when I think
I've got a handle on her,

she surprises me.

So, this time, I've come with backup.

Buongiorno.

Buongiorno, Nicole.

(Nicole) I'm hitting
the historic quarter with Francesca,

my woman on the inside.

She's a local expert with Context,

guiding urban explorers
who want to go deeper.

In this area is where
I first fell in love with Naples

because it is full of life, right?

- (Francesca) Scooters!
- (Nicole) Yes!

(Laughter)

- (Nicole) it's never boring!
- (Francesca) That's true!

(Music)

(Nicole) I'm here on a mission.

In our last episode,
I spent a day in Amalfi

where I discovered how lemons

are literally saving
the town from disaster.

Now, I'm in the big city,

to learn how lemons have inspired
Italian cooking and culture.

(Music)

After the requisite coffee --

We start at the beginning.

(Francesca) So my town has got

almost 3,000 years of life.

(Nicole) Naples was first settled
by the ancient Greeks,

this was the site of the Agora,

and later the Roman Forum.

Francesca shows me
two Corinthians columns,

lone survivors of a first century temple,

incorporated into de facade
of a 17th century church.

This is what exciting about Naples,

it's a haphazard layer-cake of stories;

stories you can
walk right up to and touch,

if you know what you're looking at.

To outsiders, Naples can seem inscrutable,

it's hard to know where
history ends and myth begins,

where faith fuses with superstition.

Just look at these
handmade nativity scenes,

a quintessentially Neapolitan fixation.

You got modern-day figures
witnessing the virgin birth,

and there, amid the terracota produce

I spot them --

(Francesca) This was very typical,

there were people selling in the streets

fresh lemon juice.

(Nicole) And those lemons
would have come up from the coast.

(Francesca) The best lemons are
from Amalfi and from Sorrento.

(Music)

(Nicole) All these fake lemons
make me crave the real thing,

so we head over to Cafeteria Ippolito
where they have --

(Francesca) Delizie al limone
-- the lemon delight.

We use a lot of lemons.

Actually, we have
a lot of lemons in our gardens --

- (Nicole) Yes!
- (Francesca) and our balconies.

There were a lot of monastery cloisters
that had these plants,

also because they were
considered like healing plants.

- (Nicole) Yes, medicinal, right?
- (Francesca) Medicinal.

I think we should have
a little bit of medicine then, shall we?

I think we should.

(Music)

(Nicole) Thank you!

This looks like... a sugar bomb!

(Laughter)

Layers of sponge cake
filled with lemon cream,

covered with Chantilly cream.

(Music)

Okay, so delizie al limone,
not really my thing,

a little bit too sugary
and a little bit too creamy,

but it was fun, it's lemons,
that's what we're doing here, right?

Luckily, it's nearly lunchtime,

we're headed to a friend's apartment

where Francesca has arranged
for me to learn from a local chef

a perfect Neapolitan summer dish,

but of course,
we can't arrive empty-handed.

This is a salumeria from 1864,
let's check it out!

(Music)

(Nicole) Thank you!

We got our cheese,

our bread,

and lemons.

And this being Naples,

we bought them all
from specialty purveyors,

who have been doing this forever.

It's time for spaghetti al limone!

Let's go!

(Music)

We arrived at a friend's
fabulous apartment

to cook with Antonio,

who's whipped up dishes
in top kitchens in Italy and England.

Ciao!

(Laughter)

(Music)

(Nicole) This is spaghetti al limone!

A dish that Neapolitans crave
when summer hits

and lemons are at their peak.

To make it you'll need:

(Antonio) Double cream,

parmesan,

dry red chili,

garlic,

butter,

lemon from Sorrento,

parsley,

and obviously the linguine.

Let's go!

(Nicole) Okay, half zest,
half juice of the lemon.

(Music)

(Nicole) More?

- (Antonio) Go, go, go --
- (Nicole) You can't have too much lemon!

(Antonio) Yeah, specially
if they are from the Amalfi coast.

(Nicole) And everything
right into the cream?

(Antonio) Yeah.

And the reason why we do that

it's because we don't want
to cook the zest,

because it's already bitter,

if you cook it, it'll be even more bitter.

Perfect.

Nice smell.

(Nicole) Smell this, come on, so good!

(Music)

(Nicole) Next, we chop garlic,
chili and parsley.

A lot of people,
at least where I come from,

think of Italian food as tomato sauce
and olive oil, not butter and cream.

(Antonio) We already have
the lemons, which are bitter,

so the olive oil, especially
the extra virgin olive oil is bitter,

so you don't want to have too much --

- (Nicole) Too much bitterness.
- (Antonio) Exactly.

(Nicole) Antonio melts de butter
with the parsley, garlic and chili.

(Antonio) This is basically
a very, very simple dish

and everyone can do that,
but you need the right ingredients.

(Nicole) Good quality ingredients.

(Antonio) Absolutely.

(Nicole) And patience,
that's the hardest ingredient to find.

(Antonio) You always need patience.

(Nicole) We add the lemon creme
until it's just warm through.

(Antonio) Now, the king
I say in Italy - parmesan.

Okay, the pasta is boiling...
that's, the water is boiling

and we're going to open the pasta
in the Italian way --

(Nicole) Whoaaaa!

(Music) (Laughter)

(Nicole) Antonio says it should come out
slightly undercooked but,

how does he know when that is?

(Antonio) I'm going to just touch it
and I know, I know it's the right time.

(Nicole) The pasta whisperer --

(Laughter)

(Antonio) It will actually
tell me, "I'm ready" --

(Nicole) I'm going to listen
and see if it tells me that --

(Laughter)

(Nicole) It doesn't, but 8 minutes later,
it tells Antonio it's ready for the sauce.

He tosses the pasta as only
a professional chef could.

I'd have spaghetti down
my blouse doing that.

A couple of pinches of salt
and he ladles some hot pasta water

until the linguine is fully cooked.

More parmesan and more lemon zest.

(Antonio) That will give you
the smell, you know.

- (Nicole) To the table?
- (Antonio) To the table.

(Music)

We used linguine instead of spaghetti
which has more surface area

for the sauce to cling to.

There we go --

(Nicole) After a long walk,
we're finally feeding you.

(Laughter)

(Francesca) Buon appetito!

(Antonio) Buon appetito!

(Music)

To Naples' new friends and limone!

(Laughter)

(Music)