From his New York City home, where he blasts jazz and sips grappa from a shot glass, chef Frank Prinsinzaro caught up with Editor-in-Chief Maddalena Fossati for our live Instagram series #BUTTALAPASTA. Wearing his signature coke bottle glasses and a t-shirt, he swung us around the kitchen, filming with one hand and cooking with the other.
The chef and restaurateur of three beloved Italian restaurants in New York City - Frank, Lil’ Frankie’s and Supper - prepared his most popular pasta: Spaghetti al Limone.
“I'm from the three best lemon-producing regions in the world,” he said, proudly referring to his Southern Italian American heritage. “So of course I have to be the ambassador of lemons, right? I mean who else is going to do it!”
While the water boiled, Frank walked us through the house, accompanied by his dogs Cacio and Pepe. He paused to show a long table sanded down from a single Golden Acacia tree, where he entertains 50 people at once. Then he carried us into the living room to try out a wooden swing bolted into the ceiling. (We literally had a swing with Frank.)
This all happened in the span of less than nine minutes. Frank was back at the stove before the spaghetti reached a perfect al dente. Poking the water with his finger to check the temperature, Maddalena jumped in to warn everyone not to try this from home. And boom! Frank said it was time to “rock and roll,” squeezing the lemons and swirling the pasta, never letting it get cold.
Spaghetti al Limone by chef Frank Prisinzano
Ingredients:
Spaghetti
Lemon
Butter
Parmigiano Reggiano
Olive Oil
Salt
Method:
Make sure all of your ingredients and cooking utensils are close by. “You have to move really fast, “ says Frank. Position utensils next to each other, so that nothing gets cold.
Set two pots side by side: one for boiling the pasta and another for mixing the pasta with the lemon and butter.
Boil water and add a handful of salt. (Frank prefers the Celtic kind and loves starchy pasta water.) Put in the spaghetti, and let it cook for no more than 9 minutes.
While the pasta cooks, take the empty pot and place it on top of the pasta water so that it heats from the steam. Do the same thing with the pasta bowls to warm them. “The biggest mistake you can make is to serve this spaghetti on a cold plate, ” says Frank. In other words, the plate should feel warm, so that the butter sauce never solidifies.
When the pasta is ready and very al dente, turn off the burner and keep the spaghetti in the pot with the water. Ladle a couple cups of boiling pasta water into the empty pot to keep it warm. Then dump the water out. Add another ladle of fresh pasta water into the empty pot to begin your sauce. As Frank says, this is the defining moment– “It’s time to rock n roll!”
In that same pot, squeeze two halved lemons. (You can put a strainer beneath them to catch the seeds.) Use tongs to pull out the dripping spaghetti and place it into the pot with lemon water. Add butter. Move the spaghetti in circles with a wooden spoon, so that it becomes coated with the lemon butter sauce. During this process, the lemon, water and butter will emulsify. “The spaghetti acts like a whisk,” says Frank before describing the process in Italian, “Mantecato benissimo.” Throw the lemons in with the spaghetti, so the skins zest the pasta.
Plate the spaghetti with tongs. Pour a bit more lemon butter sauce on top and blanket with parmigiano reggiano cheese. Place the squeezed lemon half on the side for garnish.