Aglio e Olio Pasta

March 15, 2008

This is a simple, yet delicious pasta sauce that is quick and easy to make with ingredients you will usually have on hand.  It means Garlic and Oil in Italian, so one prerequisite for  this dish is a love of garlic.  This recipe is for two people; feel free to double or triple for more.

Begin by heating a pot of water for your pasta to boil.  Add salt.

While the water heats up, mince 4 cloves of garlic and add three (or about 3/4 of how much you mince, accuracy is not a requirement) to a skillet (8″ is probably good.)  Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil and a half teaspoon of salt.  Stir them together and place over low heat.

Hopefully when you turn the heat on your skillet your pasta water is boiling.  Add 1/2 pound of pasta and cook for the time recommended on the box.

You want to cook the garlic mixture until it is a light golden brown, which should take approximately 10 minutes.  Don’t overcook it or it will become bitter.

Once golden brown, remove the skillet from the heat and add the remaining ingredients: remainder of garlic (about 1 clove), 3 more tablespoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1/4 cup fresh minced parsley (less if dry), and a teaspoon of red pepper flakes or minced hot pepper if desired.  Also, add about 1/4 cup of water from your boiling pasta to the sauce.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Mix these off the heat.

Go ahead and drain the pasta, then pour your sauce over it in the pot and mix.

Top with good Parmesan cheese and serve.

Preferences and Tips:

• The 6 tablespoons of oil is plenty for a half pound of pasta.  You could consider lessening it by a little.
• Good pasta for this sauce (so I read) is a linguine or fettuccine.
• I used the Grana Padano cheese from Costco (Kirkland brand) which is quite good.  While not exactly Parmesan, it is similar and much cheaper.
• This recipe will work without some of the ingredients.  The keys are the garlic, olive oil, and cheese.  You could survive without the parsley, lemon juice, and red pepper (although on the whole I think they are good to add if you have them.)
• In essence: cook pasta, heat garlic and olive oil over low heat until golden brown, add more oil, garlic, a small amount of lemon juice, red pepper flakes, and pasta water.  Season with salt and pepper then toss with cooked pasta.
• I have only made this once, but I am guessing the proportions can be approximations – you may get slightly stronger flavors of certain things if you’re not exact, but it will probably still be good.
• This recipe is much more flavorful than you would expect.  It is quite delicious, but you do have to love garlic.

Printable Recipe

Equipment:

• Large pot
• 8″ skillet
• Two stirring utensils
• Knife and cutting board
• Measuring cup for 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb. pasta
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley (or less dried)
• Red pepper flakes to taste or minced hot red pepper

Instructions:

1. Boil water with salt.
2. Mince garlic, add 3/4 of it to skillet with 3 tbsp. olive oil and 1/2 tsp. salt.  Heat over low heat for approx. 10 minutes (until golden brown).
3. When water is boiling, add pasta and cook for time specified on box.
4. When garlic is golden brown, add remaining garlic, 3 tbsp. olive oil, 1 tsp. lemon juice, 1/4 fresh parsley (less if dried), red pepper flakes/minced hot red pepper, and salt and pepper to taste.  Remove from heat.
5. Add 1/4 cup of pasta water to sauce.  Drain pasta and toss with sauce.
6. Serve with Parmesan cheese on top.

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