“What’s Cooking?”
You know those nights when you peer into your refrigerator and find…nothing. It’s too late to go to the store, or you just returned home from work and going to back out to the store seems unbearable. But you are HUNGRY. It’s cold outside and you’ve already changed into your comfy clothing, slipped into your slippers and all you want to do is eat a comforting meal!
What to do?
My bet is that you most likely have some pasta in the pantry, a few garlic cloves laying around and, of course, extra virgin olive oil. These are staples and even when I was a single girl, I had these available.
Roll up your sleeves and get ready for the quickest, easiest, most satisfying meal you can imagine created simply from these 3 ingredients! Well, as long as you like love garlic and you are not a vampire.
Spaghetti Aglio E Olio.
I’d love to say that I invented this effortless “Garlic & Oil” dish, but it’s origins are traced from the Italian region of Abruzzo, about 50 miles east of Rome.
You can find many renditions of this recipe, but this is how I like making my Aglio E Olio.
First, cut your garlic in fine slices. Your choice as to how many you’d like to use. For me, the more the better, so I used around 1/2 cup of sliced garlic. Use more, use less, there is no correct amount.
Put some water to boil for the pasta of your choosing, don’t forget to salt your water. For bf and I, I grab a nice palm full of dried spaghetti (probably around 3/4 lb). When the water comes to a steady boil, add the pasta which usually takes around 6 minutes until it is al dente.
While your water is coming to a boil, heat up your pan (one large enough to finish the pasta in, I use my wok!) with a good amount of quality extra virgin olive oil. Hm, around 1/2 cup? Don’t be shy with it, olive oil is good for you! Heh. Heat to low-medium heat and add the garlic. Add a good amount of salt to your taste and a dash of black pepper (sometimes I omit the pepper altogether). If you care to spice up this pasta, throw in some red pepper flakes. You know me, the answer is always, YES PLEASE! So, I add a lot. Cook the garlic slowly on this low-to-medium heat until it is tender and be sure not to burn it, don’t let it get brown! It should take as long as it takes the pasta to cook.
Next, I add the al dente pasta straight from the pasta pot to my pan of cooking garlic with a pasta fork.
Honestly, I never knew that what these were called though I must have around a dozen of them in my drawers! The residual cooking water that comes along is the perfect added liquid. Don’t drain the pasta water yet, keep it handy if you need to add a little more.
Toss everything well to combine! Does it look a little dry? Add more olive oil! Add a little more pasta water! It’s all up to you. Lucky me, I had a bit of left-over parsley, so I chopped that up and tossed it in as well.
To finish, I grated some pecorino-romano cheese that I found hiding behind the jam. You can run, but you can’t hide! Ok, now it is more than 3 ingredients, but I’ve had it with just the 3 before and it is still wonderful.
This is so, so simple and delicious and it also makes a great side dish. We had ours in front of the fireplace and watched the end of Season 3 of “Downton Abbey” (anyone else enthralled?).
I don’t know about you, but going from “There’s nothing to eat!!!” to a beautiful bowl of pasta, a cozy fire and “Downton Abbey” with my dear bf is a pretty darn good evening in my book.
lovelanguageoffood said:
This is absolutely my son’s favorite dinner since he was about 4 or 5 years old! He could eat this every night. He loves it with chopped basil.
aconsciousappetite said:
Mmm, basil is another perfect addition. It’s such a comforting pasta and one does not get tired of it! Thanks for stopping by and sharing!
foodisthebestshitever said:
Aaah. The simple things in life are often the best…
aconsciousappetite said:
So true!
khobebe said:
So funny. Your first paragraph describes how I feel, for EVERY meal EVERY day. 😉 Love the simple but delicious recipes!
aconsciousappetite said:
That’s because you never have left-overs in your fridge! 😉 I hope you’ll try some of these recipes and LMK how they turn out for you!
daffodils&dishwater said:
Looks sooo delicious! I always over estimate when cooking noodles and end up with dinner for 10. Any tips to better guesstimate?
aconsciousappetite said:
Thank you, it really is simplicity at its finest! For the 2 of us and particularly Aglio E Olio, I usually cook a bit more than one half (almost 3/4?) of a 1lb. box of spaghetti. It makes a super GENEROUS main course amount for 2 with no left over noodles. It’s always a tiny bit different depending on what I’m making, like I make less when it’s with a thick bolognese or meatballs etc.. Put the dry noodles all in one hand so you can visually see how much you’re grasping and then you can establish a good baseline. Regardless, left over noodles are always welcome in my refrigerator!! Hope this helps, lmk. 🙂