Prep and cook 20 min
A quick pasta fix with an irresistible garlic and olive oil dressing.
Until recently, I didn’t know that the Neapolitan pasta dish Aglio e Olio (Italian for garlic and oil) is known as midnight pasta because it is so quick and easy to make as a late night snack.
You know the feeling. You have a light salad for an early dinner and by bed time you get hunger pangs and scramble through the pantry and fridge for something quick and satisfying. Or it can hit you while binging on your favorite TV show. A scene comes up showing a family heartily slurping on bowls of juicy pasta and wham, you gotta have your pasta.
It can hit you at any time of the day or night and when it does this is the delicious quick fix. However there is a secret to properly make the Aglio e Olio sauce.
If you cook your garlic in the oil and then pour that over the pasta you will get an oily mess. This recipe more than any other needs the pasta water to emulsify the oil into a creamy sauce, so lets’ first talk about the amount of water you boil the pasta in. Do not simply fill your sauce pan but use enough water to submerge your pasta and a little extra to have room to cook it without clumping. In that way, as it boils the water evaporates and the starch content will be concentrated. That is the ingredient you are looking for to finish off the sauce.
The next rule to cooking any pasta is to add the pasta to the sauce, not the other way around. Two minutes before it is cooked to your liking is the usual guideline so that the pasta absorbs the flavors.
The emulsifying process is quite simple. Add the cooked pasta to the garlic and oil sauce and combine well with tongs or a spoon and fork. Turn the fire on to medium high heat and thoroughly whisk the sauce and pasta until the liquid has nearly evaporated. You end up with a creamy pasta and all you need is freshly grated Parmesan cheese to complete the dish.
On a parting note, do not shy away from the amount of garlic you use. My recipe calls for 5-6 medium sized cloves but feel free to use more. I like my garlic toasted more on the golden brown side to really get that sweet nutty taste of toasted garlic permeating through every spaghetti strand.
Aglio E Olio - Midnight Pasta
by
Derek Farwagi
Equipment
- A quart pot to boil the water.
- A large frying pan or shallow pot to mix the pasta and sauce before serving.
Ingredients
- 8 oz spaghetti
- 5-6 Medium sized garlic cloves ( sliced about 1/8 thick)
- 4 tbsp Olive oil
- A pinch Red pepper flakes or freshly ground black peper. (optional)
- Grated Parmesan cheese to taste.
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
Instructions
- Fill a quart pot with salted water and bring to a boil. Add the pasta and keep separating the strands to avoid clumping.
- While the pasta is boiling, in a large cold skillet add 4 tablespoons of olive oil and the garlic slices. Start heating that over a medium-low heat until the garlic begins to sizzle. Set aside in the pan and mix in a pinch of red pepper flakes or ground black pepper. (The garlic slices will continue to cook as the oil cools down).
- Just before the pasta is ready, add a couple of ladles of pasta water to the oil and garlic and simmer on a medium to high heat for a couple of minutes to start the emulsifying process.
- Add the pasta to the oil and water and thoroughly mix with sauce until the liquid has reduced to a creamy consistency about 1 to 2 minutes. Add more pasta water along the way if the pan is about to dry up.You are looking for enough of the emulsion to moisten the whole quantity of pasta when it is served.
- For added creaminess, blend in a tablespoon of butter then mix in the grated parmesan cheese. Serve immediately topped with a little extra cheese.
Notes
Nutrition
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