Pasta for dessert? Er… what? How does that go together, you might ask.

Well, it actually does – and it can taste pretty darn good! I’m not sure for how long this dish has been on my to-cook list, I’d say for half a year at least. I’ve found it in one local cooking magazine and it has caught my attention in a second. Such a simple yet exotic recipe: pasta with sauce made of ground poppy seeds, milk, vanilla sugar and grated lemon peel. Doesn’t it just sound yummy?

To tell you the truth, this is one very heavy dessert. For this purpose, I’ve halved our lunch meal portion and it was still too much. So if I make it again, I’ll serve it as a main meal.

Although I love poppy seeds, I don’t eat them often, maybe twice or three times per year – but when I do, I like to indulge in them with all my senses. (If you’re a fan of poppy seeds, you might as well want to try this yummy flourless poppy seed cake I posted about last year.) And here’s the recipe.

Ingredients for 2 !hungry! people (you’ve been warned )

125g pasta of desired shape (I used Mafaldine)
salt
220ml milk (for a better taste, I recommend using whole milk)
60g poppy seeds, freshly ground (if possible)
home made vanilla sugar, to taste
grated peel of 1 organic lemon

1. Start by boiling water in a big pot, add salt, stir, and then add pasta. Cook according to the packet instructions (you want your pasta al dente).
2. For the sauce, bring the milk to boil in a skillet. Add sugar, poppy seeds and and grated lemon peel. Allow to cook (simmer) for half a minute at most, stirring with a wooden spoon until it’s done.
3. Toss the cooked and strained pasta with the poppy seed sauce, and serve warm.