Friday, November 21, 2014

Meatless Fridays - Pasta with Garlic and Olive Oil or Aglio e Olio



This is a super easy meal to make yet very delicious.  Yesterday, I looked into the refrigerator to see what I could have for lunch.  I only had a small container of cooked spaghetti but no sauce.  It was then I remembered my mom used to make pasta with olive oil and garlic as a snack.  The following recipe will be for a pound of pasta.

1 lb. of pasta such as spaghetti or linguine cooked al dente, and drained (time it so it is done with the sauce is ready.  Pasta should be hot).
1 head of garlic (not one clove), peeled and chopped coursely NOTE:  add more garlic if you'd like
Approximately 1/4 to 1/3 cup of a good extra virgin olive oil (TIP:  a good olive oil does come from California.  Check out the organic extra virgin olive oil from California Olive Ranch).
I small bunch of Italian parsley (chopped as finely as is your preference)
1 large pinch of crushed red pepper
Juice from 1/2 small lemon
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Heat up a skillet and add the olive oil and garlic.  Fry the garlic until golden brown.  Then add the salt and pepper along with the crushed red pepper.  Mix well as it continues to fry for a few seconds and then add the lemon juice and parsley. At this point you can add the cooked pasta in batches (which means you would have to make the sauce two times) or you can just add the entire sauce to the hot cooked pasta in a pasta bowl.

For a variation, you can add anchovies at the time the lemon juice and parsley is added.