Pasta with Garlic and Oil (Aglio e Olio) - How to cook your own Pasta at home

JD

October 03, 2019

0

delicious-pasta-recipe, tasty-food-recipe

Call it the simplest spaghetti dish, a pantry dinner mainstay, or a favorite midnight meal among Italians, but don’t call it plain. Our take on aglio e olio is packed with flavor, thanks to a whopping 12 cloves of garlic. Cooking most of the garlic slowly over low heat softened its edge, turning it golden, nutty-tasting, and subtly sweet. Stirring in raw garlic off the heat delivered some bite to the sauce, while lemon juice balanced the oil’s richness. With such a minimal sauce, getting perfectly al dente pasta is critical, as its texture can make or break the dish. So taste often to avoid overcooking. And reserve some of the cooking water before draining the pasta; the water is used to loosen the texture of the sauce. For a twist on this dish, try sprinkling toasted bread crumbs over the individual serving bowls.

Ingredients

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
12 garlic cloves, minced (4 tablespoons)
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
2 teaspoons lemon juice
¾ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 pound spaghetti
Grated Parmesan cheese

Procedure

1. Cook 3 tablespoons oil, 3 tablespoons garlic, and ½ teaspoon salt in 10-inch nonstick skillet over low heat, stirring often, until garlic foams and is sticky and straw-colored, about 10 minutes. Off heat, stir in parsley, lemon juice, pepper flakes, remaining 3 tablespoons oil, and remaining 1 tablespoon garlic.
2. Meanwhile, bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot. Add pasta and 1 tablespoon salt and cook, stirring often, until almost al dente. Reserve ½ cup cooking water, then drain pasta in colander and return it to pot.
3. Stir 2 tablespoons reserved cooking water into garlic sauce to loosen, then add sauce to pasta and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste and add remaining reserved cooking water as needed to adjust consistency. Serve with Parmesan.

Variation

Pasta with Garlic, Oil, and Artichokes

Transfer cooked garlic mixture to bowl before combining with other ingredients at end of step 1. Heat 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil in now-empty skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add 9 ounces frozen artichoke hearts, thawed and patted dry, and ⅛ teaspoon salt and cook until artichokes are lightly browned and tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Add cooked artichokes to pasta with garlic sauce.

PASTA PERFECT

Pasta is one of those things that is easy to cook, but hard to cook just right. We prefer pasta cooked al dente, with a little bite left in the center (al dente is Italian for “to the tooth”). Follow these simple steps for perfect pasta every time.

Use Plenty of Water

Pasta leaches starch as it cooks; without plenty of water to dilute the starch, it will coat the noodles and they will stick together. We recommend 4 quarts of water for 1 pound of pasta. Use a pot with at least a 6-quart capacity, and fill it with cold tap water; warm water can pick up off-flavors from your water heater. Make sure to bring the water to a rolling boil over high heat; pasta cooks best (and fastest) in boiling, not simmering, water.

Salt the Water, Don’t Oil It

Once the water is boiling, add 1 tablespoon of salt to flavor the pasta. Don’t add oil: It does nothing for the pasta and also prevents the sauce from adhering. When You Add the Pasta, Give It a Stir Stirring the pasta when you first add it to the water, and occasionally as it cooks, will prevent it from sticking.

Check Often for Doneness

Several minutes before the pasta should be done, begin tasting it— that’s really the only way to know when it’s ready. When the pasta is almost al dente, remove the pot from heat. Because the pasta continues to cook after it is drained, you need to compensate by draining when it is just a little underdone.

Reserve Some Cooking Water Before Draining

Get in the habit of saving about ½ cup of the cooking water before you drain the cooked pasta. Then, when you add your sauce to the pasta, add some (or all) of the starchy reserved water. This helps spread the sauce and gets it to the proper consistency.

Sauce in the Pot

Returning the drained pasta to the pot and then saucing it ensures evenly coated, hot pasta.