I’m sure we all have our ridiculously easy dishes that we can fix on a lazy night in the kitchen or when we dine alone. This Capellini with lemon, garlic and an egg is one of mine. The most time-consuming part of the process is cooking the pasta and since it’s capellini (angel hair), it doesn’t take any time to cook once the water comes to a boil. The veggies can be chopped and sauteed by the time the pasta is done and then it’s just a matter of frying or poaching the egg.
I do use those wonderful preserved lemons I keep in the refrigerator, but if you don’t have any, you can always substitute lemon juice and zest, or even better Meyer Lemon and zest. See my Kitchen Notes for more substitution ideas.
Capellini with Lemon, Garlic and Egg Recipe
Serves: 2 to 4
Prep and Cook time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
8 oz. Capellini (Angel Hair) pasta
¼ cup good quality olive oil (your favorite)
8 large garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 medium sweet bell pepper, finely chopped
¼ preserved lemon, finely chopped*
1 ½ tsp. chopped fresh tarragon
¼ to ½ cup Romano cheese, grated
½ to 1 Tbsp. butter (optional)
2 – 4 eggs (1 per person)
Salt and fresh ground pepper
*If you don’t have preserved lemons you can substitute with the juice from a whole lemon and zest from half or, if you have 24 hours you can make a few quick preserved lemons.
Instructions
- Start the water for the pasta. Bring to a boil. Add the pasta and cook to al dente’. This pasta cooks very quickly so test it often so it does not overcook.
- In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat. (This may look like a lot of oil, but the oil along with the egg yolk make up the sauce for the pasta.)
- Add the onion, bell pepper and garlic. Cook slowly until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
- When the pasta is done, drain and place in a large bowl.
- Toss the pasta with the onion, garlic, oil (from the saute’ pan), preserved lemon, and tarragon.
- Melt butter in the same skillet. (I use 1/2 Tbsp. butter for 2 eggs.)
- Cook the eggs sunny side up or over “very” easy. You want the white cooked but the yolk runny.
- Divide the pasta and ingredients between 2 to 4 bowls.
- Top each bowl with a little of the Romano and then a fried egg. Pour the butter from the pan on top of the eggs.
- Sprinkle with salt and fresh ground pepper.
Cut the egg up and use the runny yolk as addition sauce for the pasta.
Kitchen Notes
The lemon – This is really good with lemon zest and lemon juice (regular or Meyer lemon), but it’s fantastic with preserved lemons! So if you have them, use them.
The vegetables – The garlic and onion are a must of course, but if you have a few leaves of greens such as spinach or chard, then chop them up and throw them in. Greens and lemon are a great combination.
Another great addition is Kalamata olives. Just chop a few up and throw them in with the cooked vegetables.
The fresh herb – I love tarragon and I especially love it with chicken and eggs. I also grow it and it’s the first herb to be ready to pick in early spring and the last to freeze in the late fall. So when I made this last week, it was such a thrill to step outside and pick a fresh herb! If you don’t have tarragon, you can use just about any herb. I’ve used basil and sage, both with great success!
The Romano – Of course you can substitute the Romano with Parmesan, I’m just a huge fan of Romano so I always have some in the fridge.
The egg – You can choose to use poached eggs if you want to cut back on the fat by omitting the butter, but I prefer fried eggs – sunny side up or overeasy. There’s something about those crispy edges that form when an egg is fried in butter.
If you like this recipe, you’ll love these!
Lemony Orzo Salad – A great salad for parties, potlucks and picnics.
Preserved Lemon Rice - A delicious rice dish with preserved lemons, artichokes and egg.
This recipe has been linked up to the following blog hops. Be sure to click on the links for more wonderful recipes.
Foodie Friday, Gallery of Favorites, Mix It Up Monday!, My Meatless Monday, Just another Meatless Monday, Made From Scratch Tuesday, Whole Food Wednesdays, Whole Foods Wednesday, Creative Thursday Link Party, Made w/ Luv Mondays, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Melt in Your Mouth Monday, Farm Girl Friday
This recipe was featured on Clever Chicks Blog Hop, October 2012
This recipe was featured on Foobuzz Top 9 March 12, 2012!
Great dish MJ! I love the egg on top… Mmmmmm! Pastas are my go to (lazy cooking) dishes too.
Hope you had a nice Easter! 
Have a great week my friend. ~ Ramona
Everyone has to have their go-to easy meals to ward off pizza delivery, right?! I imagine the soft yolk would add a rich creaminess to this dish. Nice and simple is the way to go.
Oh, that looks lovely! I really need to start growing my own herbs as it’s really hard to find fresh ones here. My go-to dish these days has been anything involving tortillas/chilies/sauteed…something! I keep a ball of dough in the fridge wrapped in a moist teatowel in a ziploc bag that can be hauled out to make quick tortillas. Whatever meat and veggies I can find are sauteed in your roasted garlic-chili oil (thank you!) and we end up with something resembling tacos…or burritos…or quesadillas or… you get the idea.
I’ve got to start making my own tortillas! I have started making my own pizza dough so it’s logical that tortillas are next. Another one of my go-to meals is red chile cheese enchiladas. All of your Mex food sounds wonderful!
I like quick fix recipe, and I especially need it for lunch time! I rely on leftover dinner for our lunch but sometimes I have no leftover, and kids get bored with similar sandwich options, so this will come in VERY handy for me! I love the egg on pasta, and lemon brings appetite and love the light dish like this. Gorgeous photo MJ!
I agree – beautiful photo! I am making this before the week is out! Thank you, once again, for a great recipe! Allen.
MJ, this looks fantastic and so easy! I’ve never paired pasta with eggs (at least not that I can remember) but I will be now
I love the idea of added kalamata olives – I actually have some in the fridge right now so this would be a great way to use them up…
I love being reminding to revisit delicious food! Thanks so much for sharing this with Made with Love Mondays, MJ. I think you may have forgotten to add the link-back to the series for this recipe
This looks so good, but I am going to try the preserved lemons! I love lemons, I imagine they are fabulous on anything!
The dish looks very professional, not lazy at all. And it is tempting me a lot. I love pasta but haven’t tried this particular type of pasta. Also, I always learn something new when visiting your website – I love that about your site.
Rathai – I’m so glad that I can introduce you to something new.. I feel the same about your site. I mean – where else would I learn about the murungai tree!
Thanks for the nice comments as always!
8 garlic cloves, preserved lemon and tarragon. Yum! What a great combination. This just sounds so lovely.
Yum!! I love quick and easy dishes like this for those lazy days. There’s a nice courgette and lemon pasta that I usually do.
Excellent recipe for lazy afternoons for me!I love the simplicity of this dish and the fact that its so easy to put together!Especially now that its the kids’ spring break, I can make this for their lunches as well
Excellent MJ!!
Oh MJ, this is a fantastic recipe. I love those preserved lemons and they go so well with garlic and oil and tarragon adds a unique flavor. A keeper for me and I try to keep those preserved lemons on hand. Great post.
That sounds WAY better than my lazy dishes as of late! I even resorted to a frozen dinner when I got home from work at 11:00 the other night!
Oh MJ, yum yum yum. This looks so fresh and delicious, perfect for this time of year. I love it… and now I am totally hungry.
Anything that is easy and quick like this one, I’m there. It looks like this can be eaten on any time of the day or any type of meal. Hmm MJ, you gave me an idea for this delicious dish – Breakfast!
Breakfast – absolutely!
Who doesn’t love a ridiculously easy dinner? I’d skip the friend egg and dive right into your fabulous pasta!!!
Another great recipe with preserved lemons. I love that it is so easy to make.
Great combo and satisfying meal!
Oh Yeah! everyone does have these kind of lazy nights. I love pastas and anything with eggs.
This is my kind of meals, too! So simple and delicious
We do a lot with pasta and a lot with eggs. Never tried them together like this, definitely will. This dish reminds me of a lazy night dining on the porch.
I just had lunch and your picture made me hungry
I love a quick meal and this one sounds like an explosion of refreshing flavors.
I love the addition of the egg on top
so true, those crispy edges rock!! great recipe.
Simple and quick recipes are so welcome after the Easter holidays! This one looks delicious, but also quite original. I don’t think I have ever had a fried egg and lemon combination. Thanks for sharing.
Egg and pasta…such a brilliant combination! Love quick recipes like this, MJ!
I so need to start making preserved lemons. This looks absolutely delicious–love the egg on top.
You had me at the egg
I think a fried egg always makes everything super tasty so the lemon and garlic is just the icing on top.
Can you believe I’d never had a fried egg on top of a pasta dish until I met my wife? Hot-dog that combo is good. Great looking dish – not too heavy, perfect when your hungry but don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen!
Good for your wife!
Pasta and egg is a GREAT combo!
CONGRATS on your Top 9!
Thanks for everyone for their wonderful comments! For those of you who have never tried an egg on top of pasta, you really need to. It’s a wonderful combination! Thanks also for the votes on Foodbuzz! What a pleasant surprise and what great bunch of friends!
I love reading about what meals other people make when they are having a lazy night or just cooking for themselves. I’ve never tried preserved lemons but i love lemon and pasta so this sounds really tasty.
For some time now I have resisted the idea of lemon with pasta. For lunch yesterday I finally gave in. I made this recipe and was pleasanatly surprised! It was light and fresh. Usually pasta dishes are so heavy. This one was perfect for an already hot here in Houston lunch. I haven’t replenished all my herbs since we moved and I didn’t have any tarragon but I had a fresh bunch of cilantro and it worked fine. I’ve never made preserved lemons so I used fresh. Jim ate his with the egg and I had mine without. My only concern was that I think I would have liked it better with twice as much of the veggies. I always thought we were very adventurous eaters, but you have broaden our cusine culture. I will spend some time in the next day or two cooking the bags of Anaheim and Poblano peppers I bought and making your green chili sauce and sliced peppers for the freezer. They have now become a staple in our house. Who knows what’s next? Preserved lemons?!
Thanks Nads for your comments! Glad you and Jim liked it! I knew I would get you to try pasta and lemon sooner or later.
I agree that this could easier use more vegetables – the more vegetables – the better! With 8 ounces of pasta, this could easily handle a whole bell pepper and onion. Enjoy roasting up your chiles! Have you bought some lemons yet? 
This dish sounds fantastic:) I love the fact it is easy and quick to prepare. I am going to make preserved lemons before trying the recipe. Thanks for two great post – this one and the post on Preserved Lemons:_) Congratulations on Foodbuzz Top 9:)
Thanks! You’re going to love those preserved lemons! It’s amazing how many creative things you can do with them!
Addendum to previous post: I had a large serving left from yesterday, so today I added more sweet bell pepper and some leftover broccoli. Divided it in half for Jim and I. It made the perfect side to a piece of fish. YUM!
This does sound yummy!
This is so fabulous in so many ways! We’re eating mostly meatless these days, and I am so excited to find a meat-free pasta recipe. And preserved lemons! I have always wanted to try them. I’m so excited to make some soon.
Thanks for sharing your capellini. I’m a big fan, grab our button and we’ll see you back next week.
Aha..here goes another wonderful recipe of your preserved lemon..yum..yum, MJ!!
Never had egg on pasta… it sure makes a whole meal!
This looks delightful…love these easy meals, and the preserved lemon adds such a nice touch!
Hope you are having a great weekend
wow, looks awesome with the eggs and pasta
That looks so amazingly beautiful and frankly, even though it is easy and quick to prepare, I’d have no problem at all serving it to guests on a casual dinner as the good ingredients, deep flavours and fancy look make it special enough for me.
How did you know, I would love this? I am printing up the recipe and hope to make it, this week. Thanks for sharing it with us.
I hope you do get a chance to make. If you do, please let me know how you like it.
This looks amazing! I love the flavor combination and the egg on top! Thanks so much for sharing at Mix it up Monday
Easy, simple, fast – a perfect dinner for when I’m hungry and just need food and don’t want to think about it! Best of all, it sounds like the flavor is terrific. And how can you not like something topped with an egg? So pretty! Thanks for this.
Love this dish idea! I am all about easy food that looks and tastes like it took a lot longer to prepare. I am pinning this for all of my friends to check out!
Thanks for the pin and the comment!
What a wonderful recipe – the flavours are so bright and fresh, and pasta with egg really is the ultimate in comfort food! I like the variations you shared as well!
Hi,
I followed you over from Mix it up Monday and this looks delicious! Always looking for more pasta recipes.
I would love to invite you to share this, and any other posts you would like to, at my Creative Thursday Link Party at http://www.michellestastycreations.blogspot.com.
Have a great day,
Michelle
Thanks Michelle! Consider it done!
This would make for a perfect mid week meal MJ! I love the idea of using preserved lemons here.
Hi MJ,
Thanks so much for linking up to Creative Thursday this week. I can’t wait to see what you make next. Yummy!
Hope to see you again next week. Have a wonderful weekend.
Michelle
I just love this! I am always looking for delicious, easy pasta recipes and this fits the bill. Plus it’s another great use for preserved lemons! Oh, and did I mention that I’m a sucker for anything with an egg on top?
Egg and pasta go so well together! This recipe looks great! Can’t wait to try. Thanks for sharing.
mmmm…. how gorgeous and delicious! I tried adding preserved lemons to pasta, it’s so good. And I love sunny side up eggs, so why not add them too
. Such a happy dish 
Thank you for linking this recipe up with the Clever Chicks Blog Hop this week! I’m goint to try making the preserved lemons, I’m intrigued!
I hope to see you back on the Clever Chicks hop next week.
Cheers,
Kathy Shea Mormino
The Chicken Chick
OOH, can’t use Pinterest when I’m at work. I’m going to have to “remember” this one the old-fashioned way!
This looks lovely and sounds wonderful, and what a great way to use preserved lemons. I always see people preserving lemons, but I never know what to do with them–thanks for several ideas!
Thanks Dani! I hope you can find this again and actually make it. It’s great with the preserved lemons!
I prepared this for dinner last night. OMG what a taste treat~! I always have preserved lemons on hand & everything else except for pasta & olive oil came from our Hacienda. I did add the Spinach & Kalmata olives (cured here last year) & eggs from our hens. I can’t begin to tell you what wonderful flavors we enjoyed. Thank you~!
Lynne, I’m SO glad you like this! It’s one of our favorite “go to” dishes. I can’t believe all of the ingredients that came from your Hacienda and surrounding area. What a great place to live! Thanks so much for your comment! It’s always great to know that people actually make and love your recipes! Hope you’re having a wonderful weekend!