Spaghetti Aglio e Olio
Slow-bloomed garlic, good olive oil, chili flake and parsley.
Maui's an app that plans a whole week of dinners like this one. See how it works ↓
Slice the garlic into thin coins, not minced. Mincing creates 1,000 tiny edges that burn before the oil even gets warm - and burnt garlic is bitter, not garlicky. Coins bloom slowly into the oil, sweet and golden. This and the cold-start oil-and-garlic move are the two technique things separating fine aglio e olio from great aglio e olio.
Ingredients
Everything below makes 4 servings.
- 1 lbspaghetti
- ½ cupextra-virgin olive oilthe good stuff - it's the sauce
- 8garlic clovesthinly sliced (not minced - thin slices bloom in oil without burning)
- 1 tspred pepper flake
- ½ cupfresh parsleychopped
- 1 tbspfresh lemon juicefrom about 1/2 lemon
- 2 tbspkosher saltfor the pasta water (be generous - water should taste like the sea)
- ½ tspfreshly ground black pepper
In the app these rescale to however many people you're feeding.
Nutrition
Per serving, as written.
- 580calories
- 15gprotein
- 82gcarbs
- 22gfat
Swaps move these numbers. A different protein or base changes them.
Instructions
Knife work first, then the stove. Nothing below asks you to chop while something burns.
- Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a rolling boil.
- Thinly slice 8 garlic cloves - thin coins, not minced. Mincing burns; coins bloom.
- Chop a small handful of parsley. Juice half a lemon.
- Set a measuring cup near the stove for pasta water - you'll grab a cup before draining.
Boil pasta
Drop the spaghetti into the boiling salted water. Cook 1 min less than the package says - it'll finish in the oil. Before draining, scoop out 1 cup of pasta water and set aside.
8 min · hands offBloom garlic
While the pasta cooks: pour olive oil into the cold skillet. Add the sliced garlic and red pepper flake. Turn heat to medium-low. Let everything come up together - the garlic should sizzle gently and turn pale gold over 5-6 min. Pull the pan off heat the moment it hits gold; brown garlic turns bitter and you cannot un-bitter it.
6 min · hands onEmulsify
Add 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water to the garlic oil. Swirl the pan - the starchy water and oil will turn creamy. Lift the drained pasta straight into the skillet with tongs. Toss vigorously for 1-2 min, adding more pasta water a splash at a time, until the noodles look glossy and the sauce clings.
2 min · hands onFinish and plate
Off heat, stir in parsley, lemon juice, and a few cracks of black pepper. Taste - add salt if needed (it's mostly olive oil now, so a finishing pinch can wake it up). Twirl into bowls.
1 min · hands onMake it yours
Every swap here is one Maui already knows how to make, including what it does to the timing.
Sear 1 lb shrimp 90 sec/side in the garlic oil before tossing the pasta in. Adds about 8 minutes.
Pan-crisp a drained can of chickpeas 6-8 min before the garlic step, scatter over plated pasta. Adds about 10 minutes.
Dress arugula with lemon and olive oil while pasta boils. Adds about 3 minutes.
Warm a baguette - extra oil and crumbs is the point.
What keeps
This is a cook-and-eat pasta. The oil-coated noodles seize up in the fridge and never come back.
Make it when you want it.
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