With Passover officially coming to an end, a spring-inspired pasta dish seemed like the perfect way to celebrate our return to leavened grains. I was inspired to include artichokes in this recipe after seeing them fill the shelves of our local market. Artichokes are my very favorite vegetable. As a California girl I’ve grown up surrounded by these funny, prickly, delicious things. We even had them growing in our yard when I was a child. They were recently declared California’s Official Vegetable by the governor, which made me happier than you might imagine. I really do love my artichokes!
The artichoke’s journey to California began on the East coast where French allied soldiers introduced them to America during the Revolutionary War. Globe artichokes began appearing in Virginia around the 1720s. In California, the artichoke was not seen as a favorable cash crop until the 1890s, when Italian farmers planted them in Half Moon Bay. By 1904, they were filling boxcars with artichokes to send to the East coast. In 1922, Italian farmers moved their artichokes to California’s Salinas Valley. The town of Castroville designated itself the “Artichoke Capital of the World” and hosts a yearly artichoke festival. No, I haven’t been. Yes, it’s on my bucket list!
Salinas is also where Marilyn Monroe was crowned the very first Artichoke Queen on February 28, 1948 by the California Artichoke & Vegetable Growers Corporation. As the story goes, artichoke farmers Edward Modena, Enrico Bellone and Randy Barsotti spotted a young Ms. Monroe endorsing diamonds at a local jewelry shop. They asked her to tour the artichoke farm, fed her a lunch of freshly cooked artichoke hearts, and soon after honored her with a sash that declared her to be “Queen of the Artichokes.” With the amount of artichokes I eat every year, I think I well deserve my own royal sash.
You can use canned or freshly cooked artichoke hearts in this recipe. If you’re feeling ambitious and want to prepare the hearts on your own, check out this post:
All About Artichokes – Cleaning, Prep and Cooking Tutorials
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Lemon Butter Pasta with Artichokes and Capers
Ingredients
- 8 ounces angel hair (capellini) or spaghetti pasta
- 8 ounces quartered artichoke hearts, frozen, canned or steamed till tender (about 2 cups)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup shallots, minced
- 3 tablespoons capers, rinsed
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper, optional (adds spice)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt, or more to taste (heaping)
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice, or more to taste
- 3 tablespoons chopped parsley, divided
NOTES
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve 2 tbsp of the pasta cooking water. Rinse under cool water for a moment or two to keep the noodles loose. Reserve. In a large sauteuse, saute or sauce pan, heat 2 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Add artichokes and cover. Cook until thawed (if frozen) and slightly browned. Once browned, remove the artichokes from the pan and reserve.
- Using the same pan, heat 6 tbsp of butter over medium high heat. Once the butter has melted, add the shallots, capers, lemon zest, optional crushed red pepper and salt. Cook until the shallots are translucent. Carefully add the lemon juice and 2 tbsp pasta cooking water. Cook until a sauce develops. This will happen quickly.
- Add the cooked pasta, 2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley and the artichokes to the pan. Toss to evenly coat. If the pasta seems too dry, add water, 1 tbsp at a time, to loosen it a bit. It should not be thick or heavy, the noodles should be lightly coated with lemon butter. Add additional butter, salt and lemon to taste, if desired.
- Serve hot and garnish with remaining fresh chopped parsley.
Nutrition
I made this recipe exactly as written and it was perfect. The lemon was not overpowering. Added lemon wedges when served for even more lemon flavor. Served with Shrimp Oreganata. Perfect compliment to the pasta.
Just mytaste but zi found it needed more lemon juice to give it that extra kick. I enjoyed the recipe though. Fixed it with garlic bread, olive oil /herb dip, and a nice salad with lettuce , onions,( out of my container garden) feta, cranberries .
This is the special pasta dish I make for my 85-year-old mom. We both love it. I use bowtie or penne instead of capellini, add pan seared shrimp and sprinkle with shredded parmesan. Fantastic flavors! Thanks so much for sharing.
Glad you’re enjoying it!
This is excellent! Followed recipe completely. Will be storing this recipe as a keeper
Thankyou!
So good. I made this with a pappardelle and sub’d the shallots for garlic. I can see how 5 TBS of lemon could have been too much but this revision is perfect!
Made this two nights ago and LOVED it. Only changes were to use the peel from a whole lemon, all of the juice from that lemon, and using a mix of fresh basil & parsley in the pan. The garnish was more fresh basil. Absolutely delicious! Thanks for sharing your recipe!
I just cooked this for dinner. The only change I made was using a clove of garlic (minced) instead of the shallots which I didn’t have on hand. Incredible!!! Many years ago, a friend of mine cooked a similar dish with broccoli in place of the artichokes. I lost touch with the friend and was never able to duplicate that flavor. This is it! I suspect this recipe would taste equally amazing with either artichokes or broccoli – whatever you happen to have on hand. Thank you so much for sharing it!
Has way too much lemon! Had to balance out with more butter, chicken stock and cheese
Sorry this wasn’t a home run for you! This is the second comment I’ve received about the lemon being overpowering, so I’m going to cut the recipe from 5 tbsp to 3 tbsp – and add more to taste, as desired. Our family loves lemon, but it can be a strong flavor for some.
Excellent, wondered what I was going to do with leftover half a can of quartered artichokes. I had just put first part of the artichokes into a salad. Your pasta version was awesome. Thank you!
Made this for dinner last night, and it was delicious! Only addition that I made was crushed garlic… definitely a keeper! Thank you for this recipe!
I walked my dog today and grabbed 4 Meyer lemons off a tree that is loaded with fruit. I cut back a bit on the butter (4tbls) and it came together really well! Will definitely cook again. Thanks!
This was yummy. My only change next time would be to cut down the lemon juice by 1 or 2 tbsp and sub in pasta water or plain water to keep the consistency. The lemon was too overpowering for me. I used fresh squeezed organic lemon juice, so that may have more tartness than some bottled stuff/other varieties. Thank you for the recipe!
can you make this with olive oil instead of butter? have dietary issues.
Hi Lori, Tori’s assistant Ashley here. Unfortunately we haven’t experimented with this recipe with olive oil, so I’m not sure how the results would be. It would probably work fine, but the flavor profile would be quite different.
I am planning to try this tomorrow night with friends. Do you think the sauce could be made in advance and slowly reheated? Thanks.
Hi Barbara, you could but I don’t recommend it. It won’t really save you much time, and the sauce will solidify in the fridge. Instead I would recommend having all of the ingredients prepared and ready to go (shallots minced, lemon tested, etc.) and make it on the spot. It will only take 2-3 minutes longer than prepping it ahead to make it fresh, and it will taste better with the brightness of the freshly squeezed lemon juice. Good luck!
Made this today, my husband and I loved it. There’s something about artichokes, capers, lemon juice/zest, and red pepper flakes that make anything taste great! I use a similar recipe for a chicken and salmon marinade. Thanks for this!
I will make this recipe tonight for friends, but I would NEVER rinse the pasta. Rinsing the pasta takes the starch out and doesn’t allow the sauce to stick to the pasta, just cook the pasta “al dente”,
As this is a very tasty sauce, (I will also add Reggianno Parmesan cheese at the end) you will taste the difference if you just add a 1/4 ladel of the pasta water to the recipe.
Thank you. The extra pasta water was perfect!
Made this last night and it was delicious.
A keeper!
Thanks