Spaghetti aglio-e-olio
Five ingredients, one pan, and about the time it takes to boil water. The whole thing lives or dies on two details: not browning the garlic, and adding the pasta water slowly enough that the oil and starch actually come together into a sauce rather than sitting in a puddle.
I use coriander rather than the traditional parsley. It's what's in my fridge, and the stems have more to give than people expect.
What you'll need
- 100g spaghetti (I use Borges)
- 3–4 cloves of garlic
- Chilli flakes
- Extra virgin olive oil, generously
- Coriander — leaves chopped, and keep a couple of stems whole
- Salt
The recipe
Boil the water properly
About a litre of water in a pan, brought to a rolling boil. Add around 2 teaspoons of salt, then the spaghetti.
Cook to al dente
Cook until al dente — still some resistance in the middle. It finishes in the pan with the sauce, so err on the early side.
Drain, and save the water
Drain the pasta and keep the pasta water. Set both aside.
Prep while it cooks
Slice the garlic thinly. Chop the coriander leaves, and set aside a couple of whole stems.
Start the oil
Generous amounts of extra virgin olive oil in a pan over low-medium heat. Add the sliced garlic and the coriander stems.
Don't brown the garlic
You want fragrance, not colour. Once the garlic has released its smell and is just turning pale gold, pull the coriander stems out — they've done their job.
Chilli, then the first splash
Add the chilli flakes and a touch of the reserved pasta water. It will hiss and seize; that's the sauce starting.
Build the sauce slowly
Keep it on a low heat and add a tablespoon of pasta water every few seconds, swirling the pan. Go up to 4–5 tablespoons, until the oil, water, chilli and garlic come together into something glossy that coats the back of a spoon. Add most of the chopped coriander here, saving a little for the top. How loose you take it is up to you.
In with the spaghetti
Add the drained spaghetti and toss thoroughly, so every strand is coated evenly rather than dressed on top.
Serve
Straight onto a plate, topped with the coriander you held back.
Notes
Brown garlic turns the whole dish bitter and there's no recovering from it — if it catches, it's faster to start the oil again than to serve it. Low heat and patience through step six is the whole recipe.