Whatever the recipe, it always involves sautéing garlic in olive oil until golden brown.
“You can go out and buy super expensive olive oil, but [but] “I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that for this dish; you don’t want the olive oil to overpower the flavor of the pasta and the garlic,” says Brandwein. “You want something fruity and balanced,” says Brandwein, which is typical of the Ligurian olive oils she prefers for this dish.
Get the recipe: Spaghetti Aglio e Olio (Spaghetti with Garlic and Olive Oil)
“In a typical Italian restaurant kitchen, garlic is always sliced paper-thin,” Brandwein says, which calls to mind the scene in “Goodfellas” in which Paul Cicero, aka Paulie (Paul Sorvino), uses a razor blade for precise results. But Marcella Hazan’s “Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking” instructs you to mince the garlic. Either way, every source I checked agrees on one thing: “You want the garlic to have a little color, but don’t let it burn,” Brandwein says, which can make it taste bitter.
“When sautéing garlic, never leave it unattended, and never leave it until it has turned a deep brown, which develops an unpleasant odor and taste,” Hazan writes.
While the garlic is sautéing, add some chopped fresh chili peppers (Hazan’s book suggests using these) or crushed red pepper flakes (Brandwein likes the dried spice’s smoky flavor) to the skillet.
Once the garlic is browned just right, Hazan has the cook stir in the cooked pasta and parsley, and you’re ready to go. In Lidia’s Cooking Secrets, Lidia Matticchio-Bastianich and Tanja Bastianich-Manuari take a different approach, adding the garlic to 2 cups of pasta water and reducing it to create an emulsified sauce that they then stir in with the pasta and parsley.
Brandwein likes to add the parsley directly to the oil first—”You cook the herbs in the olive oil, and the parsley brings out the oil and flavor,” she says—then add a little of the pasta cooking water to the pasta and stir until the parsley is evenly distributed.
In case you’re wondering, the pasta option is always the same: “As the Romans say, ‘Spaghetti aio e oio.'” [sic] “As if it were one word, they would anticipate another pasta being added to the mix as quickly as the moon’s orbit changes,” Hazan writes. “If I were to offer a tentative alternative, it would be spaghettini, thin spaghetti that pairs so well with a coating of garlic and oil.”
For Brandwein, the success of this dish hinges on timing. “You have to have everything lined up because it moves so quickly, so you need to have all the ingredients and preparation in front of you,” she says. “You can’t be running around looking for things. [asking]”Where’s the parsley? Because if I did that the garlic would burn.” If you can avoid this tragic fate you’ll have a delicious pasta dish ready in no time.
If you want to take the flavor profile in a different direction, options abound. Purists might disagree, but we’ve found that a little sprinkling of cheese when plating elevates this simple pasta dish to the next level. Brandwine favors homemade buckwheat spaghetti at Centrolena—”it’s my favorite”—and says adding breadcrumbs adds texture. Bastianich offers the option of adding basil to the recipe, and suggests adding anchovies or capers for further variation.
On the one hand, there’s beauty in the simplicity of a more streamlined version, but on the other hand, you’re the one who’s going to eat it, so add whatever you like.
Get the recipe: Spaghetti Aglio e Olio (Spaghetti with Garlic and Olive Oil)
