Spaghetti Aglio e Olio
Roman dinner-after-the-bar pasta — spaghetti tossed with slowly bloomed garlic, olive oil, chilli flakes, and parsley. Five ingredients, fifteen minutes, no apologies.
Cuisine: Italian (Rome / Naples) · Style: One Pot · Protein: Veggies · Total time: · Difficulty: easy · Servings: 2 · Spice: 1/5
Ingredients
- 200g spaghetti
- 1/3 cup good olive oil
- 6 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
- 1 tsp red chilli flakes (peperoncino)
- 1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
- 1 tsp salt for the water (plus extra)
- Black pepper
- A wedge of lemon (optional)
Steps
- Bring a wide pot of water to a boil and salt it well — it should taste like the sea. Drop the spaghetti.
- While the pasta cooks, warm the olive oil in a wide pan over the lowest heat. Add the sliced garlic and let it bloom slowly for 3-4 minutes until just barely golden — never brown, or it turns bitter.
- Stir in the chilli flakes and toast for 10 seconds.
- When the pasta is 1 minute shy of al dente, scoop out 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water before draining.
- Tip the drained pasta into the garlic oil pan. Add a splash of pasta water and toss vigorously for 1 minute — the starch will emulsify the oil into a glossy sauce that clings.
- Off the heat, fold in the parsley and a generous grind of pepper. Taste and adjust salt.
- Plate immediately. A squeeze of lemon at the end is non-Italian but very welcome.