Spaghetti Aglio e Olio

Spaghetti Aglio e Olio: Step by Step

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1. Bring just 2.5 litres of water to the boil and salt it. The smaller volume makes the water far starchier, and that starch is your only emulsifier.

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2. Put the olive oil and sliced garlic in a wide, cold pan and set it over medium-low heat. Let it come up slowly for 5 to 6 minutes until the slices are pale gold and the oil smells sweet. Do not let them brown.

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3. Add the chilli flakes and swirl for 30 seconds, then take the pan off the heat so the garlic stops cooking.

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4. Cook the spaghetti until 2 minutes short of al dente, then reserve 300 ml of the cloudy water.

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5. Return the pan to medium heat, add the drained spaghetti and 150 ml of pasta water, and toss hard and continuously for 2 minutes.

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6. Keep tossing, adding splashes of water, until the oil and water come together into a glossy sauce that clings to the strands rather than pooling in the pan.

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7. Off the heat, fold through the parsley, finish with flaky salt, and serve immediately in warmed bowls.

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Things to Watch For

1. No cheese. Aglio e olio is a Neapolitan dish of oil and garlic, and Parmigiano muddies the emulsion.
2. If the sauce looks oily and separate, it needs more pasta water and harder tossing — not more oil.
3. Toasted breadcrumbs fried in a little of the garlic oil make an excellent topping in place of cheese.

Common Substitutions & Variations

• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

About This Recipe

There is no sauce here except an emulsion of olive oil and starchy pasta water, so the pasta water has to be starchy: cook the spaghetti in the smallest volume of water that will cover it. Sliced garlic started in cold oil gives sweet, even golden slices, where garlic dropped into hot oil scorches at the edge before the middle cooks.

What to Serve It With

A cold Falanghina, or whatever is open · Serve alone; this dish wants no side · Follow with a bitter leaf salad

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Creamy Parmesan Polenta, Cauliflower Risotto, Ciabatta.

Leftovers

Best eaten immediately — the emulsion breaks within minutes of standing. Leftovers reheat passably in a pan with a splash of water.

Spaghetti Aglio e Olio Nutrition

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. Sodium is not given, because the salt for the cooking water is in the ingredient list but most of it is poured away with the water, so no figure from the list would be honest. How the figures are worked out.

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