As simple as it gets: spaghetti aglio e olio

Looking back at what I posted recently I noticed there's very little of what is, in our home, the almost daily staple. Since I'm Italian, but even more Southern Italian, this couldn't be anything but pasta. Almost too easy to guess, isn't it? I like pasta in practically any form, so I can only be happy that there's so many ways to eat it!

On the web, in magazines and in cookbooks there are loads of recipes for pasta. If you just think of one ingredient for your "sugo" (pasta sauce) and search for a recipe you'll probably find much more than you actually need. After all pasta is one of the perfect ingredient to play around and experiment with creativity. It's part of what makes it such a loved dish I guess. On the other hand I thought that maybe it wouldn't be bad to write about a few typical and simple ways pasta is prepared in Italy. I'll start today with an incredibly quick to make but tasty classic: spaghetti aglio e olio or as the Neapolitan say "aglio e uoglio", i.e. spaghetti oil and garlic.

Spaghetti aglio e olio is a dish you'll hardly find on a restaurant menu. It's way too simple and unimpressive to become a successful item on a menu. In Neapolitan, and in general Southern Italian homes, this dish  can assume many roles at the table: quick dish for when there's no real time to cook, midnight snack, comfort food, and strangely enough it is even served as digestive. Some people believe -based on what I don't know- that eating a small dish of aglio e olio after a heavy meal helps the digestion. There is even one restaurant in Naples, Mimi' alla ferrovia, where you'll get a small dish at the end of the meal if you want. I never felt the need to try myself.

As with every simple recipe, aglio e olio can be great or disappointing depending on the quality of the ingredients and respecting one or two cooking steps that should really be followed to the letter. The basic recipe (for 1 person) calls for 100 g (3.5 oz) spaghetti (or linguine), 2 Tbs olive oil, 1/2 garlic clove, a little piece of hot dried chilli and some chopped parsley. While the pasta cooks, heat the oil with the chilli in a pan on moderate heat. A few minutes before the pasta is ready add the garlic, sliced or chopped and let it turn golden but not darker, unless you like acrid and bitter garlic. Once the pasta is ready, al dente, drain it, mix it with the garlic oil and sprinkle with parsley. To get the best out  of the recipe one should use flat-leafed parsley, garlic that's not too old (otherwise at least remove the green "sprout" or core) and the best robust-flavoured extravirgin olive oil you can get.

If done right you'll end up with a dish that's pure pasta bliss. The pasta should be slippery from the oil, the garlic and chilli will have given all the good aromas they have to the oil without burning (once more, if this happens you can only throw the oil away) and the parsley should be added in just the right amount to give a contrasting "green" note. And all this in less than 20 minutes, even considering the time the pasta water needs to boil. If you only have 1 burner to cook on (if camping for example) there's even a "raw version", where garlic parsley and chilli are marinated in the oil for a while and then simply added to the pasta without being cooked.

Everyone who cooks this often enough, as with everything so easy, will develop their little modifications/improvements, so here's mine. I slice the garlic quite thin and only add it to the hot oil 1 minute or so before the pasta is ready, i.e. al dente. This way the garlic will fry and cook into delicious tiny garlic chips. I really like the extra crunch they give. I also use 1 clove per person when I feel like a somewhat stronger garlic note... and if I don't have an appointment at the dentist. Just before draining the pasta I also add the parsley to the oil and remove the pan from the burner ending up with tiny fried parsley "flakes". Compared to the original recipe I use quite a bit less parsley, only because I'm quite sensible to its taste and too much would overpower the other ingredients. If you like garlic you'll love this and soon you'll come up with your little improvements!

Comments

[Deb]

Alberto-your method sounds good. I've had trouble in the past with making this dish. It either comes out way too oily or with too little of my beloved garlic taste. I like the addition of a chilli and I've never tossed in parsley, perhaps that's what I was doing wrong. I'll have to try again soon.

totally unrelated to this post but judging from the comment you left at Blue's site...heres a link I think you might like
http://www.ifiction.org/games/index.php

[lazykitchenhand]

I love the 'raw' version - and I've taken the liberty of linking your story to today's post at my site.

[Alberto]

Deb: cool link, thanks! About the pasta: it is supposed to be a bit oily (that's why using a tasty olive oil is a good idea) although not too much. On the other hand there are many "derivate" recipes which use other ingredients and a tad less oil. I'll be posting about them soon... maybe they fit your taste better.

lazyhandkitchen: thanks for the link and nice post!

[josh]

I have seen on Lidia Bastianich's Television show a method whereby the garlic is sauteed in olive oil, then parsley is added, and then a substantial amount of the pasta water is added (maybe a cup?). The pasta is then added, while it is still partially uncooked, and it cooks together with this garlic/parsley broth until the water is absorbed and the pasta is cooked through. The garlic is not crisp at all, of course, but it does taste good. I'm wondering if this is an Americanization, or an alternative technique you find in Italy.

[Alberto]

Josh, the technique is indeed used for some pasta dishes at home and from what I've heard very often in restaurants. On the other hand I've never seen it used for aglio e olio. I have to admit I have a mixed opinion on Lindia Basitianich, at least from what I've seen or read. She does a great job on Northern Italian cooking but Southern is not really her home-ground. There's one video of her available online on PBS where she talks about pasta with broccoli rabe... let's just say I was shaking my head a lot :-)

[Josh]

I actually have the cookbook, and you might be interested to know that the title she gives for this pasta is "aglio e olio"! However, it does come from her cookbook on Italian-American food, so this might reflect one of those American transformations of a classic Italian dish.

I believe she is from Istria. Is aglio e olio strictly Souther Italian?

Now, what did she say about broccoli rabe to get your head shaking?!

[Renee]

hi alberto,
I really like the sound of your version... with the crispy garlic and parsley, that's right up my alley.
and of course being chinese, I would probably drop in a good 2 cloves of garlic ; )

I'm glad you mentioned the dried chilli, b'cos I've always wondered about that.
here in Asia, aglio e olio is almost always (or at least a large part of the time) billed as a "spicy pasta" dish. and it does get cooked with a fair bit of chilli heat.
and I always wondered whether the Italians would really put so much chilli, if at all in their pasta.
so now I know... you do, but just not the amount it is done here. : )

[Alberto]

Josh, yes aglio e olio is quite strictly southern Italian, or better found diffusely from Rome downwards. Dried semolina pasta, apart around Liguria (Genova and surroundings) is a relatively new to Northern Italy. My granny, who came from Mantua, told me once she cooked dried pasta for the first time sometime in the 50s. Regarding the orecchiette and broccoli rabe dish there were a few things that were just incorrect but the worst were the following:

-she claims the dish comes from Calabria but the dish is a classic (if not THE classic) of Apulia. Maybe not a big difference for the American public but quite a big one for us Italians. I have a friend from Apulia to whom I showed the video... I'd better not repeat her comments here ;-)

-she uses butter for cooking the rabe, something a southern Italian would never ever do. Southerners mostly dislike butter (with the exception of its use in pastry).

[Alberto]

Renee, both garlic and chilli amounts are subject to one's taste :-). The amount of garlic can be increased quite a bit. I once made some for me and a garlic-loving friend using 1 head of garlic for the two of us... a bit too much for me, but still quite nice. The use of chilli varies very much from region to region in Italy. Most people would use a light touch so to have only a slight "tickle" of the tounge. Some though go quite heavy on chilli. In Calabria (the tip of the boot, if you look at Italy) chilli is used in big amounts (and are quite the macho thing ;-)): there the oil or the aglio e olio could easily be tinted red from the chillis.