Spaghettini Aglio e Olio
A well-made aglio e olio (garlic and olive oil) sauce is simply delicious. It’s funny how something so basic and simple can be so many people’s favorite pasta dish. The trick to making a perfect aglio e olio sauce is to not cut the garlic very small, use a good extra virgin olive oil and a little pasta water too. I know many people might scratch their heads over the addition of pasta water to the recipe. However in a professional setting especially in a true Italian kitchen a little pasta water is often used in these quick pan sauces. I explain this further in the below video.
The type of pasta you uses for this sauce is very important as well. Typically you’ll want to use long pasta such as spaghetti, linguini, bucatini, etc. I personally like to use even thinner long kinds of pasta such as capellini or spaghettini. The perfect portion size is about two ounces of pasta per person. Also, I use about 1/4 a cup of extra virgin olive oil per person as well. I often like to spice things up in my cooking so in this recipe I added a little Calabrian chili pepper to give the dish a nice kick. But of course, you can leave the chili out of the dish. In this video, I show you some tips on how to make a delicious spaghettini aglio e olio using cooking techniques that I’ve picked up over the years. Enjoy!
VIDEO: Spaghettini Aglio e Olio
Here’s a quick recipe!
Ingredients
(serves 1 person)
- 2 ounces of spaghettini
- 3 cloves of crushed and quickly chopped garlic
- 1 bunch of parsley rinsed off and roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup of reserved pasta water
- 1/2 tablespoon of chili pepper or red pepper flakes
- salt to taste
Follow the steps in my video to make one delicious spaghettini aglio e olio.
Spaghettini Aglio e Olio