SRC Reveal: {Gluten-Free} Lemon Basil Pasta

It's time for Group B's May 2016 for the Secret Recipe Club. This month I was assigned to Cooking With Traci which is written by - yes, you guessed it - Traci. She's new to my group and I was excited to explore her blog.

Before I get into her recipes, here's a little about her.

Traci is mom of two boys. She calls them the Wee one and the Imaginative one. Gotta love those names. She says the Wee one is willful and independent; he's also her adventurous eater. The Imaginative one is creative and loves anything involving chocolate and pumpkin pie.

Traci was inspired into the kitchen by her grandma who always cooked meals for her mom, her sister, her grandpa, and her. Grandmas are the best! Traci cooks with great love and feels a home-cooked meal is a great birthday present. I couldn't agree more! That's actually what I "give" most of my friends for their birthdays - a feast.

Her self-admitted food weaknesses are coffee, chocolate, granola, and smoothies.

Now that we're talking about food, I have to say: I love her categories of recipes. Healthy, Recipes Healthified, Easy, and DIY. Those are awesome.

You can also view her recipes by appliance, by ingredient, by meal type, and by holiday. Her recipes that made it to my must-try list, as in this month, are her Grapefruit Vinaigrette, Blueberry Vinaigrette, and Lemon Cookies. But I decided to stick with an entree for the reveal. My version is slightly adapted - I made mine gluten-free, lightened it up by using milk instead of cream and half-and-half, and used a mixture of regular basil and blue basil. And a quick shout-out of gratitude to my big one and my little one who have wonderful green thumbs and keep our Meyer lemon tree happy and prolific.

 slightly adapted from 

Cooking with Traci's Lemon Basil Pasta

Ingredients

• 1 package gluten-free pasta (I had a mixture of fusilli and penne, partial packets of each)
• ½ stick butter
• juice from 2 organic lemons (I used some from our Meyer lemon tree)
• zest from 2 organic lemons, approximately 2 T
• 1 C organic milk
• 1½ C shredded parmesan cheese
• freshly ground salt
• freshly ground pepper
• 20 whole basil leaves, chopped

Procedure

Cook pasta, reserving 1 C of the cooking water when you drain it. Set pasta aside in a colander.

In the same pot, melt butter over medium heat. Squeeze in the lemon juice and add the zest. Pour in the milk and whisk together until hot.

Stir in the cheese and whisk until melted. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

If it's too thick, add some of the pasta water to loosen the sauce if needed. Fold in the herbs. Stir in the pasta until nicely coated.

Serve immediately with some fresh basil on top. Pronto al tavolo!!

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