When you cook something with just a few ingredients, there’s always the chance it will be blah. Not so with these Lemon-Garlic Noodles. This has knock-your-socks-off flavor! The beauty in this beast is that you likely have on hand all the ingredients needed for the recipe: butter, pasta, broth and lemon.

But wait! There’s more for your cooking leisure. Forget the traditional big pot of boiling salted water for the noodles. Instead, just break the pasta into 2″ pieces and toss it in the skillet with a few tablespoons of butter and a bit of garlic. In a few minutes, after it absorbs the fat and flavor, add a cup of chicken broth. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Give a few squirts of lemon and you have an incredible plate of carby comfort.

Dressing It Up

Some personalize the dish with a jolt of hot sauce or chopped peanuts and and green onions, but there’s no need. But the suggestion to chop some deli chicken into the butter-garlic mixture is a good idea. Adding protein moves the simple side dish to a mainstream meal.

This is a super quick and easy pasta recipe. For LAs (Live Aloners—and 42% of American adults fall in that category today), these tasty noodles and a salad make a perfect afterwork meal.

Lemon Garlic Noodles

Ingredients: (Serves one; increase as needed)

• 2 Tbs. butter
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 oz. angel hair pasta
• 1 cup chicken broth
• Freshly ground pepper
• Lemon juice to taste

Directions:

Melt butter in skillet and add minced garlic. Break pasta into 2″ pieces and add to skillet, coating well with the butter mixture. Add broth (chicken or vegetable) and ground pepper. Cover and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed.

Squeeze juice of one small lemon over pasta. Add salt, if needed.