Spaghetti Aglio e Olio: The Twelve-Minute Pasta, With the Anchovy That Makes It Taste Like It Took an Hour
Aglio e olio is the pasta Neapolitans make at midnight, when there is nothing in the house but garlic, oil, chile and a pound of spaghetti, and it is the fastest proof that a great pasta needs no sauce, only a method. There are two things to get right. The garlic is cooked slowly, in a generous amount of good olive oil, until it is pale gold and sweet, and never a shade darker, because brown garlic is bitter and there is nothing else in the dish to hide it. And the pasta is finished in that oil with a ladle of its own starchy cooking water, tossed until oil and water become one glossy sauce, which is the emulsion our pasta method exists to explain. The anchovy is optional and it is the reason this recipe is here: two fillets dissolved into the warm oil make the dish taste like it simmered all afternoon, and, per the anchovy comparison, nobody will taste fish.
Ingredients, for four
- 400 g (14 oz) dried spaghetti
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) extra virgin olive oil, a good one; it is a third of the dish
- 6 garlic cloves, sliced thin and evenly, not minced
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon chile flakes, a fruity one; or one whole dried chile, crumbled
- 2 to 4 anchovy fillets in oil (optional, recommended)
- A handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- Fine sea salt for the water, at one percent
- Optional: the zest of half a lemon; a squeeze of juice; grated Parmigiano or toasted breadcrumbs to finish
Method
- Start the water. Four to five quarts, one percent salt, lid on, to a full boil. Drop the spaghetti, stir for the first minute, and set a timer for two minutes under the box time.
- Cook the garlic gently. As soon as the pasta is in, put the oil and the sliced garlic in a wide skillet and set it over medium-low heat. Start them together, cold, so the garlic warms with the oil. Let it cook slowly, swirling the pan, for four to six minutes; the oil should barely shimmer, never sizzle hard, and the garlic should soften, turn translucent, then just begin to color at the edges to a pale gold. If it starts to brown, pull the pan off the heat immediately; that is the only way to ruin this dish.
- Add the anchovy and chile. When the garlic is pale gold, add the anchovies and the chile flakes. Stir and press the anchovies with a wooden spoon for a minute; they dissolve into the oil. Take the pan off the heat and wait for the pasta.
- Save the water, drain wet. Before draining, take out two cups of cooking water. Drain the pasta when it still has a thin white line at the center; it finishes in the pan.
- Toss. Return the skillet to medium heat, add the pasta and half a cup of the cooking water, and toss vigorously with tongs for one to two minutes, adding more water a splash at a time. The oil and water will turn from separate and slick into a pale, glossy sauce that clings to every strand and leaves almost nothing in the pan. That is the moment to stop.
- Finish. Off the heat, add the parsley, lemon zest if using, and taste for salt; with anchovies it will need little. Plate in warm bowls with, if you like, a thread of raw oil, Parmigiano or breadcrumbs, and the squeeze of lemon.
Why it went wrong
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Bitter | The garlic browned | Start it cold in the oil, lower heat, pull the pan the moment it colors. Next time, slice thicker; thin slices burn faster |
| Greasy, oil pooling in the bowl | The emulsion never formed: too little water, too little tossing, or the pasta was rinsed | Toss harder and longer over heat with more water; never rinse pasta |
| Dry and tight | Too little oil, or the water cooked off | Add water a splash at a time while tossing; use the full half cup of oil |
| Fishy | Too many anchovies, or they did not dissolve | Two fillets for four people; press them into warm oil until they vanish before the pasta goes in |
| Flat | Undersalted water; nothing sharp at the end | One percent salt; lemon zest and a squeeze at the plate, per the acid guide |
Notes and variations
The oil is the dish. A half cup of extra virgin olive oil for four people is not a mistake; it is the sauce. Use a bottle you would happily taste from a spoon, per the buying guide, and a robust one, since garlic and chile can carry it. Breadcrumbs toasted in a spoon of the oil with a pinch of salt, scattered over the top, are the Southern Italian finish (pangrattato, "poor man's Parmesan") and add crunch to a dish that is all softness. Colatura, a teaspoon in place of the anchovies, is the Amalfi version and the purest form of the idea. Vegetables: a handful of broccoli rabe, kale or peas blanched in the pasta water for the last two minutes, drained with the pasta, is the way the dish becomes dinner rather than a midnight snack. In Denver, the pasta takes a minute or two longer and the water evaporates faster; save the full two cups.
The oil, the anchovies, the chile flakes and the spaghetti are at 263 Josephine Street in Cherry Creek, Denver, and ship nationwide from theambrosianpantry.com. It is the Monday dinner in five dinners from ten jars, and the reason those ten include a good bottle of oil.
