Scratchy Husband Pasta
- Total Time
- 20 to 30 minutes, including boiling water
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- ¾cups extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼pound unsalted butter
- 1whole head of garlic, or at least 10 cloves, peeled, sliced thin across the grain
- Good quality salt
- 1pound dried spaghetti
- 4teaspoons of chile flakes
- A generous ½ cup of grated pecorino or Parmigiano-Reggiano
- Many, many cranks of the pepper mill
Nutritional analysis per serving (2 servings)
2034 calories; 135 grams fat; 43 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 74 grams monounsaturated fat; 12 grams polyunsaturated fat; 173 grams carbohydrates; 9 grams dietary fiber; 6 grams sugars; 36 grams protein; 892 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Bring large pot of water to a boil. When water simmers and is about to break to a roiling boil, place a 10-inch deep-sided sauté pan on low heat.
- Step 2
Add the olive oil and butter and sliced garlic to the pan and let the butter melt, as the garlic begins to warm through. When the pasta water gets roiling, add salt to taste. (As always, like seawater.) Add the dry spaghetti. Add chile flakes to the warming garlic-oil mixture and swirl the pan a bit.
- Step 3
Stir the spaghetti and make sure it is cooking evenly and the strands are separated. Swirl the garlic-chile-oil pan smoothly and frequently, and let the garlic soften and start to turn golden as the butter starts to foam and the chile blooms its heat and color into the oil. (On my stove, the burners run quite hot, so I keep it on low the whole time, but if your home burner is weak and you are not getting any foaming or toasting of the garlic by now, tap the heat up a half-step.) At 8 minutes, pull the pasta from the boiling water with tongs, let it briefly drip its excess water above the pasta pot, but then place it right into the garlic-chile-oil pan, letting the last drips of water go right into the sauce.
- Step 4
Turn up the heat under the pasta now and stir vigorously, also tossing the pasta with short sturdy flicks of your wrist, for just about a minute, listening to the water hiss a little as it evaporates in the oil.
- Step 5
Turn off the heat, add cheese and a lot of black pepper. Toss and distribute all the garlic and the cheese and the chile flakes using two forks like you are tossing a salad, making sure every bit is coated and luscious and on the edge even of greasy. (The amount of salt that I put in the pasta water, combined with the salt of the cheese, is enough for us. If you feel it needs it, season with a little more salt, according to your tastes.) Serve immediately.
Private Notes
Comments
This is what pasta is all about. Pasta is a “carrier” food, like eggs . . . Add, mix, anything and it can carry it off. If you’re Italian, you cook with anything you have and this is the epitome of that. And... this is the best part (sorry, she/he capped it). ... Makes this perfect! “toasted bread crumbs with minced anchovy and grated lemon zest and chopped parsley” Be still my heart.
I make this all the time but tweak the amounts. A couple of tablespoons of high quality olive oil, a couple of tablespoons of butter, a healthy pinch of pepper flakes, and a couple of sliced garlic cloves. Some freshly grated parmesan, plus serve extra at the table. I make this with a pound of spaghetti which generously serves 3 plus leftovers for lunch. In other words, less is more.
I liked the flavors but a stick of butter and 3/4 cup of olive oil made it too greasy for only a pound of pasta, even with water from the pasta and cheese. I’m not sure you need the butter but you can half both quantities (or less) and still get a flavorful sauce without it being greasy and overly rich. Next time, I’ll use a 1/3 or 1/2 a cup of olive oil and 2 TBS of butter.
I only added 1 teaspoon of chili flakes and it was just right, four teaspoons would be way too much.
Feb24: used 2 T red pepper and good heat. Didn’t double batch. Use a bit more butter and lessen oil.
So simple, so delicious. Follow the recipe as written. This qualifies as soul food.