Lemon Pasta, or a Disciple of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

Whenever I fix something I've just thrown together without the use of a cookbook, my husband stares at me like he's just discovered Big Foot. It's true that I'm much more comfortable using a recipe, but this one I've had in my back pocket for a while.

Lemon Pasta, which is bearing an uncanny resemblance to the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

It's a Lemon Pasta, which just consists of linguine (fixed per instructions on the box) tossed with pasta water (just extract a few tablespoons of the water in which the pasta boiled before draining), lemon zest, fresh lemon juice, Parmesan cheese, and salt to taste. If the pasta needs a bit more moisture, just drizzle in some olive oil.

I served the pasta with fried polenta (just buy some pre-made polenta in tube form, usually found in the organic section of the grocery store, and slice about 1/2-inch thick) topped with a tangy tomato sauce (heat some olive oil on medium-low in a saucepan and saute about 1 cup chopped onions and 1 clove minced garlic for about 5 minutes, then add about three chopped tomatoes, 1 Tbsp. dried basil, 1 tsp. oregano, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1 tsp. Tabasco; reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes).

A final side was just a bagged salad tossed with chopped walnuts, goat cheese, and diced tomatoes.