Spaghetti Aglio e Olio

The classic Italian dish of spaghetti aglio e olio is a simple meal made from spaghetti, olive oil, and garlic, often with Parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes for heat and parsley for freshness, using starchy pasta water to create a light sauce.

We make the dish with spaghetti that was given to us at the Monaco Open Tennis Tournament (upcoming blog) earlier this year as a gift for attendees.

Free spaghetti

We bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the pasta, cooking to just before al dente and saving 1½ cups of the pasta cooking water.

We add thin-sliced garlic to olive oil at medium heat and cook for two minutes, until the garlic turns gold on the edges.  We add red pepper flakes and cook for 30 more seconds, then the reserved pasta-cooking water, bringing it all to a boil.  We lower the heat, add one teaspoon of salt, and simmer for about five minutes, until the liquid is reduced by about a third.

Preparing ingredients

Starting with the garlic, adding red pepper flakes

We introduce the drained pasta to the garlic sauce and mix.  Off the heat, we add minced parsley and grated Parmesan cheese and toss well.  We allow the pasta to rest off heat for five minutes for the sauce to be absorbed, taste for seasoning, and serve warm with extra Parmesan on the side.

Adding the pasta

To accompany the pasta, we prepare a salad of romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, radish, avocado, green onion, and mushrooms, with a dressing of  olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, shallot, salt, and pepper.

Dinner is ready

Simple, elegant, quick, and delicious.  Really good!