Recipes
Spaghetti aglio e olio

Spaghetti aglio e olio

Name: Spaghetti aglio e olio
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4 portions
Ingredients: 400 g spaghetti; 1 tablespoon salt; 3 l water; 100 ml olive oil; 6 cloves garlic; 2 pcs chilli peppers; 1 handful parsley; salt; black pepper

Jakub SýkoraSpicyItalian Cuisine x se líbilo

Spaghetti aglio e olio comes together from just five ingredients, where garlic, chilli, and olive oil make a fragrant Italian classic in 20 minutes. In cold oil you slowly cook thin garlic slices with chilli until golden. You toss the cooked spaghetti into the pan, add a splash of pasta water, and stir vigorously into a silky emulsion. You stir in parsley and season with pepper. Serve it right away, optionally with parmesan on the plate.

Příprava: 5min

Vaření: 15min

CELKOVÝ ČAS: 20min

Step by step process

Cooking the spaghetti

1
Start your spaghetti aglio e olio: bring 3 litres of water to the boil in a large pot and season with one tablespoon of salt - the water should taste as salty as the sea.
2
Add the spaghetti and cook according to packet instructions. Pull it off 1-2 minutes early - it will finish in the garlic oil and hold its al dente bite better. Before draining, reserve at least one full cup of pasta cooking water, ideally two. This starchy liquid is the most important ingredient in the sauce.
TIP:
Al dente is neither soft nor hard, pasta has a slight resistance when bitten. Start testing 1-2 minutes before the time on the package and always taste it, because different brands cook for different lengths of time.

Preparing the garlic sauce

3
While the spaghetti is cooking, peel the garlic and slice it as thinly as possible with a knife. Thin slices cook evenly and release intense flavour without any risk of turning bitter. Halve the chilli peppers, remove the seeds if you prefer a milder heat, and cut into thin rings.
4
Pour the olive oil into a cold pan, add the garlic slices and chilli. Place the pan over a low heat and gently cook the garlic for 3-4 minutes until it turns golden. Be careful not to let it burn, bitter garlic would ruin the whole dish.
TIP:
When sautéing garlic in oil, cook it over MEDIUM heat for 3-4 minutes until golden, this releases the aromatic oils. High heat leads to burning and loss of flavor. The same process applies to onions.
5
Roughly chop the parsley and have it ready to hand.

Combining and serving

6
Transfer the drained spaghetti directly into the pan with the garlic oil and remove from the heat. Using tongs or two forks, toss and fold the pasta energetically for 30-40 seconds until every strand is evenly coated in the fragrant garlic-chilli oil.
7
Add 2-3 tablespoons of the reserved cooking water and stir vigorously, the starch in the water helps create a silky emulsion that coats the pasta in a thin, glossy layer.
TIP:
Whisk the eggs, then gradually add the yogurt and oil while whisking thoroughly. If the ingredients don't combine smoothly, slow down the addition or gently warm the eggs.
8
Stir in the chopped parsley, season with pepper and adjust the salt if needed. Warm your serving plates for a minute in the oven or rinse with hot water and dry - cold plates instantly drop the pasta temperature. Serve right away. If adding grated parmesan or pecorino, do so on the plate rather than in the pan to prevent the cheese from clumping.

More tips:

Cook the garlic really slowly and start it in cold oil, this draws out maximum flavour without any risk of burning. Once it turns brown it becomes bitter and there is no saving it.

The pasta cooking water is a key ingredient. The starch it contains acts as an emulsifier, giving the sauce a silky consistency rather than a greasy feel.

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