Garlic Girl

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Garlic Olive Oil Spaghetti

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There aren’t many food memories as close to my heart as this “dish.” And I put the word dish in quotation marks because I’m not sure that it could be technically called a dish since it has only a few ingredients and takes a few minutes. For my family, this was basically the Sicilian version of slapping together a bologna and cheese sandwich. I remember telling my aunts and my mom that I wanted “plain spagetti” because back then I really couldn’t appreciate a tomato sauce. So my wonderful Auntie Connie would take literally a few minutes and toss together some spaghetti, fresh garlic, olive oil, parley, and some awesome, parmigiano cheese. And then…best of all, she’d add the water that she cooked the pasta in, and the result was one of the most satisfying, steamy bowls of soulful happiness! To this day, this little dish warms my body on a cold day, and warms my heart any day! My mom and her family used to call it “Lague Logue” and that never made sense to me. Turns out, it was the broken Sicilian way of saying Aglio e Olio which means garlic and olive oil. My brother actually helped me figure out why they called it that funny name.

Serves 4

Garlic Olive Oil Spaghetti or Aglio e Olio

Ingredients:

1lb spaghetti
a few, or more,  cloves of garlic – smashed, or smashed and minced
parmigiano cheese, freshly grated – or Pecorino Romano (my favorite)
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
a few splashes of olive oil
a bunch of fresh parsley, finely chopped
Optional – crushed red pepper flakes

Preparation:
Start cooking spaghetti according to directions
When the pasta is almost done, in a large saute pan, heat olive oil and throw in the garlic for about 45 seconds. It’s important not to brown or burn.
Now, with tongs, pull the spahetti out from the water and add to the pan with the olive oil and garlic.
Add the parsley, salt and pepper to taste and toss for a couple minutes. Add a little more olive oil if needed.
Now to serve, put the spaghetti in the individual serving bowls, and add a cup of the water from the big pot that you cooked the pasta in, and ladle over the pasta. I like it soupy, but if you don’t, just add very little water.
Sprinkle the cheese over the top and some more of the parsley, and some more black pepper and red pepper if you desire.

Now slurp it up!

Of course you can add anything to this: almost any green veggie, cauliflower, chicken, etc. But I think the beauty of this dish is in the total simplicity.

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Comments

  1. Chef Chuck

    Wow this dish is something I could always indulge in! Garlic, Garlic…. Give me some bread and I am on my way!!
    I had an Aunt Connie too:)

    Reply

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