PITTSBURGH -- With pumpkins, apples and jewel-colored squashes the showpieces of fall farm stand displays, choosing to make a meal that leans heavily on citrus might feel misguided on a cool, sunny day in October.

Peak season for lemons, oranges and grapefruit doesn’t kick off until late November, when specialty and heirloom citrus fruits like minneola tangelos and Meyer lemons find their way from Florida and California onto store shelves.

Standard lemons, however, are produce section staples you can easily find year-round, often by the bag on sale in larger grocery stores.

Not only are they an extremely versatile ingredient for the home cook — they can be used to tenderize meat; add a zip to sauces, marinades and dressings; or flavor sweet treats like bars and cheesecake — but they also provide a lot of bang for the buck. You can use every single part of the fruit, including the rinds along with the zest and juice.

This creamy pasta dish is a classic example. A traditional Italian pesto is often made by mixing crushed, fresh basil and pine nuts with garlic, grated Parmesan cheese and extra virgin olive oil into a paste. Here, thick strips of lemon peel and slivered almonds stand in for herbs and (very expensive) pine nuts.

Boiling the peels before tossing them into a food processor with other ingredients not only softens some of their bitterness but also makes it easier to blend them into a creamy paste. It also gently flavors the pasta water with a hint of sunny lemon.

The original recipe calls for long, thin strands of spaghetti, but any twisted, ridged short-cut pasta also works since it traps the pesto in its grooves. I used Frankies 457 Mezze Maniche, an artisanal, bronze die-cut pasta made from organic durum wheat semolina.

I added a couple generous handfuls of fresh baby spinach for a pop of green, but depending on the season, you also could stir in sauteed asparagus, roasted broccolini (sweet) or sauteed rapini (bitter) to the pot.

Never one to waste ingredients, I used the peeled fruit to make homemade lemon curd.

A glass of a bright, herbaceous white like sauvignon blanc pairs perfectly with this dish. The pasta is very satisfying as an entree, but if you’d rather dish it up as a side, serve alongside grilled shrimp or chicken or a flaky fish like baked salmon.

Pasta with Lemon Pesto and Spinach

PG tested

If you want your pesto to stay bright and super-fresh, always sauce it off-heat, Milk Street advises. This will preserve the color, aroma and flavor as much as possible.

4 lemons

Kosher salt and ground black pepper

1½ teaspoons white sugar, divided

1 pound uncooked pasta

½ cup slivered almonds

1 ounce (without rind) Parmesan cheese, cut into rough 1-inch pieces, plus finely grated Parmesan to serve

⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more to serve

2-3 cups baby spinach, depending on taste

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives

Using a vegetable peeler (preferably a Y-style peeler), remove the zest from the lemons in long, wide strips; try to remove only the colored portion of the peel, not the bitter white pith just underneath. You should have about ⅔ cup zest strips.

In a large pot, combine 2 quarts water, 1½ teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon of sugar and half of the zest strips.

Bring to a boil and to cook for 2 minutes, then remove and discard the zest.

Add pasta and cook until al dente. Reserve 1½ cups of the cooking water, then drain the pasta and return it to the pot.

Meanwhile, in a food processor, combine the remaining zest strips, the almonds, Parmesan, the remaining ½ teaspoon sugar and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper.

Process until the mixture resembles coarse sand, 10-20 seconds. Add oil and process just until the oil is incorporated (the mixture will not be smooth), about another 10 seconds; set aside until the pasta is ready.

Drop the fresh spinach leaves straight into the steaming hot pasta, letting the residual heat wilt the leaves in about-1-2 minutes. Add pesto and ¾ cup of the reserved pasta water, then toss to combine; add more reserved pasta water as needed so the pesto coats the noodles. (I added about another ¼ cup.)

Toss in the chives. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Serve drizzled with additional oil and with additional grated Parmesan on the side.

Serves 4.

— Adapted from Milk Street

©2026 PG Publishing Co. Visit at post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.