Today I will try to explain how to make Italy’s most traditional pasta dishes; spaghetti aglio e olio. This is a meal everyone in Italy makes,its simple, tasty and you can have it ready in 15 minutes.
The traditional way to do aglio e olio , is garlic, oil and parsley. I like to add chilli flake to mine but if you ask Italians they will add all sorts of things: sun-dried tomatoes, itItalianausages bits, parmesan, lemon juice…
While this dish is simple, it’s very easy to fail it. To make the sauce you add pasta water filled with starches into the olive oil to create an emulsion. If you don’t have the right ratio ( about 2 part water for 1 part oil) it will break apart really fast and you will end up with a puddle of oil on your plate. Expect to fail a few times to get the correct ratio of oil/water.
You need ( per person)
- 3cups water*
- ~100g Italian pasta**
- ~4tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- salt
- (optional) chilli flakes
- freshly minced parsley
- 1 minced garlic clove
*The water you use to cook your pasta will also be used to create the sauce. You do not want to use too much water as it will decrease the concentration of starch in the water. If you make this meal for multiple people don’t simply multiply the water, add just what is needed so the pasta are covered with water.
** Please use the best you can find. Ideally, they need to be extruded by a copper plate. This makes the pasta look a bit whiteish and rough versus VS plastic extruded method where the pasta are bright yellow and all smooth. The copper extruded one creates more starches ( which help bind the sauce) and their rougher texture makes the sauce stick to the pasta
Instructions
- Fill one large pan with water and bring it to a boil.
- Add some salt ( about a tablespoon) to the water and add the pasta.
- Set a timer as indicated on the label. If you are using non-Italian pasta, the cooking time will need to be reduced by 1-2 minutes
- Give the pasta a good stir every now and then to release starches in the water
- In a second pan, heat the olive oil on medium
- Add the garlic to the oil and make sure it doesn’t burn, we want to flavour the oil. You can add parley stalk too if you do remove them before adding the pasta.
- When there are about 2 minutes left on the timer, add 1 ladle of pasta water into the oil. Stir it. It will not combine at this point, that’s ok
- If you opted to add chilli flakes, add them now.
- When the timer is done, add the pasta to the other pan along with 1 ladle of pasta water.
- Stir well, if you can toss the pasta in the pan
- This is where things get tricky, you need to make sure your sauce is emulsified. Toss the pasta on one end of the pan and look at the sauce consistency. If it’s still very oily, add more water. If it looks all mixed up, almost a silky texture you are good to go!
- Taste test the pasta, adjust the salt level
- Plate and eat
A well-executed aglio e olio should not be oily. The emulsion should stick and while there should be a bit of sauce/oil at the bottom of the plate it shouldn’t be a puddle.
Tip: to prevent the oil from breaking once plated, heat your plates in the microwave for 30 seconds. They don’t need to be super hot, just slightly warm help
