Spaghetti Aglio Olio

this post is specially dedicated to Xing Leng ;)

..i believe once upon a time i tried to make this blog more food-inclined.... and yea.. i was always too lazy to upload pictures and i don't cook/bake often enough to make it a total food blog anyways.. so maybe once in a while i'll share some recipes? heh.. here's hoping i stick to this :p

OK! so.. Spaghetti Aglio Olio.. why? coz Xing Leng asked me how to make it :) ..

This style i believe is not the real, authentic aglio olio... we first had this at a spanishy fusiony restaurant..i think the authentic one has more sauce and stuff like olives in it..

This is possibly one of the simplest pasta dishes out there and i think once i have a kitchen in Year 2 i'll be cooking this very often because it goes well with a lot of things.. to me it's like the western carbo component in a meal so..yea.. i don't mind substituting this with rice..enough of my rambling, here's the recipe!

You'll need : Garlic, salt, olive oil (not extra virgin though) and preferably coarse black pepper. of course you'll need the pasta too XD .. i like spaghetti and linguine with it and i don't think short pastas will work as well..

before no.1 or simultaneously if you can handle it, boil your water and add salt and put your pasta in, cooking according to the instructions on the packet...

1. Chop up your garlic! i tried slicing the garlic thinly before and it works too but i think it depends on how much you love/hate garlic..if you're slicing it thinly you get to have crunchy flakes of garlic or it'll be easier to take out the garlic too if you don't really like garlic :/
i used about a whole garlic when cooking for 2 :p .. but, adjust it to your own taste...

2. Heat your olive oil in a pan.. or a wok! (Note that you shouldn't get the oil too hot coz olive oil breaks down at a lower temperature than say canola or sunflower oil..) and i don't think the olive oil is substituable with any other oil...hmm... oh, you'll have to put in more than when you're cooking vege and stuff or else the pasta will be really dry and not tasty..just bear in mind that olive oil is a healthy oil! some people drink olive oil! so don't worry too much about it :)

3. Once reasonably hot, put in your garlic.. stir it around a bit to make sure it doesn't become dark brown/black.. add your salt while stirring the garlic around and keep a watchful eye on the garlic..

4. Once garlic is just about turning golden brown switch off the heat coz the garlic will still continue getting cooked with the heat of the pan/wok..

5. By then, your pasta should be about ready... i usually don't drain the pasta but just use a fork to transfer the pasta to the oil+garlic but..i think the proper way to do things is to drain the pasta..haha.. but i've never had a problem with my way anyways *shrug* .. see how hardworking you wanna be..... so yes, transfer your pasta over to your pan/wok and switch on the heat again..

6. You'll have to work a bit faster now coz once when i cooked the pasta in the wok a bit too long it became a bit hard..
Toss the pasta around in the sauce and add your black pepper.. well you could've added the black pepper in with the garlic earlier but..it's up to you i think..

7. Get your pasta on your plate and you're all set! Dig in!


oh..and i've never tried it before but i think adding a little chili to the oil+garlic before the spaghetti might give it a nice kick :) .. i think mum tried adding some herbs before but i don't think she got the right herbs so it didn't turn out so well :p ..but if you know the right herbs to go with this, let me know!!!! :D



Edit: adding prawns to cook with the garlic will also be really nice :) .. (thanks cous for reminding ;D )

-llen-