Fresh pasta, lemon, butter, parmesan cheese and thyme. That and 15 minutes is about all it takes to make an incredible weeknight dinner, as long as you source the best ingredients.

Robert Hartman is the chef de cuisine at Saint Theo’s in New York City, a restaurant dedicated to serving folks traditional Venetian cicchetti, housemade pasta, seasonal salads, fresh seafood, and more.

Below, he shares his recipe for lemon linguine; a simple yet delicious menu item that wows guests from around the world and tastes like a mini trip to Italy.

See also: Weekly Recipe: Pasta Carbonara by Peasant NYC

"What I love most about this dish is the minimal prep required to make the pasta. All that it requires is 15 minutes and high-quality ingredients,” Hartman says. “The key is to find lemon thyme rather than traditional thyme, and to find an organic lemon to peel and steep in the butter. The organic lemon peel will not have been sprayed with chemicals that should make for a more pleasant and bright sauce. We use fresh pasta from our friends at Brooklyn Pasta Lab for all of our pastas at the restaurant, and we’ve found that this has also made a profound difference in raising the quality of the dish."

The below recipe yields two bowls of pasta and is perfect for date night, or you can double the recipe to feed your family. It’s pretty straightforward, just make sure you’ve got the freshest ingredients possible and let them speak for themselves!

Lemon Linguine

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Ingredients:

• ¼ cup lemon juice
• 4 T unsalted butter
• 2 sprigs lemon thyme
• 1 ea lemon peel
• 8 ounces of Fresh linguine from Brooklyn Pasta Lab
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 ea lemon, zested
• ½ cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano, 24 month
• Kosher salt, to taste

Directions:

1. Heat a saute pan over medium heat and add the butter, lemon juice, lemon thyme, lemon peel, and black pepper.
2. Slowly reduce this mixture and allow the lemon thyme and peel to infuse into the sauce.
3. Cook the fresh linguine in heavily salted boiling water for 20 to 30 seconds or until the linguine is al dente. Reserve some of the pasta water for the sauce.
4. Remove the lemon thyme and peel from the sauce and discard.
5. Add the cooked linguine, Parmigiano Reggiano, and three ounces of the pasta water. Continue to cook and toss the sauce and pasta mixture until the sauce has thickened and formed a nice glaze around the linguine. This should take about 45 to 60 seconds.
6. Using a thin pair of tongs and a four-ounce ladle, twirl the linguine. Use the ladle as the base for the ball of pasta. When you have a nice, tight ball of pasta, place it in a warm bowl and delicately remove the ladle from the bottom. Slide the pasta off of the tongs and add any remaining sauce over the pasta. Finish with a sprinkle of lemon zest and sea salt.

Visit Saint Theo’s in NYC and online for more delicious dishes and inspiration.