Garlic Spaghetti

When I was a little girl I couldn’t wait to visit my Grandma’s house because there was a lot of love – and a ton of great food (of course mostly Italian). I recall running to the “pantry” and finding homemade Sicilian, cracked olives, homemade Biscotti, etc. And if I didn’t see something I wanted, it was nothing for one of my Aunts to just cook something up on the fly. One of my favorite requests was fresh pasta tossed in a little garlic and olive oil. Crazy simple, but I loved it! What a nice change from my Mom’s spaghetti loaded up with heavy red sauce! Although tomato sauce is great, I always prefer this anytime. Here you go…

Garlic Spaghetti

1 lb spaghetti (preferably Bucatini – the hollow pasta)
1-2 tbls freshly crushed garlic
1/4 c olive oil
1 c grated pecorino parmesan cheese
1/4 cup freshly chopped curley parsley
kosher salt and black pepper to taste

• Boil water, add a splash of olive oil. Add pasta and cook until el dente.
• Drain the pasta, reserving about 1-2 cups of the water.
• Heat olive oil in large fry pan – just add enough olive oil to coat the pan (3-4 tbls)
• When heated, add the garlic, toss with wooden spoon for about 30 seconds. Don’t let it brown.
• Now add the pasta and the parsley and toss for a couple minutes.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Now the pasta may start sticking to the bottom of the pan. It’s time to add the water that you reserved from cooking the pasta.
• Toss some more and add 1/2 the parmesan cheese
• Toss a bit and you’re ready to just dump in nice, large pasta dish.
• Sprinkle more cheese and parley on the top and that’s all it takes!

Serving Suggestion: A nice, summer salad with garlic bread and a glass of wine is all you need. Of course if you’ve prepared Salmon or Halibut, that would be a perfect and romantic meal.