Aglio, Olio, e Pepperoncino

That would be the name of this dish in Italian! Luckily, Giada included that in her little side note on the recipe. I didn't figure it out for myself. I AM very excited to take Italian next semester though. Then when I talk about these recipes I can really sound like Giada on her show :) Pictured above is my dinner. Whenever I watch the Food Network, the chefs always say things like "Look at how pretty this dish is" or "Look at those colors" and now, I think I can relate. Seriously, how good looking is that meal?

For those not fluent in Italian (myself included), the dish is called Spaghetti with Garlic, Olive Oil, and Red Pepper Flakes. I have my own personal anecdote that goes with this dish. This past summer, my father and I went out to dinner at a local Italian restaurant. The food was great and the portions were huge as usual. My dad decided to order pasta with aglio and olio. It's usually a pretty safe bet for a satisfying meal. When they brought the food out, the first thing I noticed about my dad's plate were the mass amounts of chopped garlic covering his pasta. I kid you not, there were MOUNDS of chopped garlic. One can expect a good amount of garlic in such a dish, but this was ridiculous. My dad took only a few bites since the garlic was so overpowering and that was enough for my mother to pick up on the scent when she got home that night.

That being said, I was a little hesitant about making Giada's version. Luckily, I'm on break right now for school so if garlic was seeping out of my pores, I wouldn't be forced to interact with anyone or sit closely in a packed lecture hall.

I started by making the spaghetti up in the kitchen and bringing it back to my room. It cooked fine without any problems. I've finally gotten the whole cooking-basic-pasta thing down. Next I fired up the old reliable electric frying pan. The first thing you do is heat the olive oil. The recipe makes four servings with 1/2 cup of olive oil, so for my one serving, I used two tablespoons (I would've tried to cut back on the oil in this one, but it's really the essence of the dish). You then add the garlic (peeled, but NOT chopped) to the oil. The original recipe calls for five cloves, but for a single serving I opted for just one.

You saute the garlic for about a minute until it's golden brown. If you over cook it, it will be bitter and I was sure not to do so. Once it has been sauteed enough, you remove the garlic from the oil, then add the red pepper flakes. I didn't really measure these out because 1) I like spice and 2) I don't really think you can add too much! You saute the red pepper flakes for about a minute as well. Next, you add some salt and some reserved pasta water. The original recipe says to add two tablespoons, but since I was on top of my game today, I did the math and figured out that I only needed to add one teaspoon. I have also seen this done a number of times on Food Network when they make pasta dishes, and I never really understood why. I now know that adding some of this water adds a bit of starch to a sauce and gives it more substance. This step is actually Giada's "secret" to this dish.

And now, a lesson in following directions. It says to CAREFULLY stir the reserved pasta water into the oil mixture. I figured it wouldn't be a big deal if I just poured it all in at once, so I did. I swear someone set off firecrackers in our room when I did this. The mixture crackled like crazy and started spitting and hit my arm as I stirred it all around. Had I CAREFULLY added it, I probably wouldn't have jumped out of my boots once I had done so, or singed my arm. You live and you learn.

After the water has been added, you toss the drained pasta in the sauce for a minute to coat all of it (for this reason, you should NOT rinse the pasta with water. I usually don't anyway, but if you do, the natural starches will be washed away and the sauce won't stick to the pasta). Once you transfer this all to a plate, you add chopped parsley, basil, and mint as a finishing touch. This is an instance in which nothing but fresh herbs will do.

As I mentioned before, I was a little hesitant to try this dish because of my past restaurant experience. However, because the full, peeled clove of garlic is sauteed in the oil in this version, it adds the perfect amount of garlic flavor. It acts more like a backdrop to the dish rather than overpowering the entire thing. I had never had fresh mint in a savory dish before and it worked really well with the crushed red pepper. It adds a nice "clean" taste to it and balances out the spice a bit. There was just the right amount of oil as well.

So Giada's recipe has forever changed my view of this traditional meal. And I think it may restore my father's faith in it as well. If my parents are lucky, maybe I'll make this for them when I'm home on break :) I will be cooking AGAIN tomorrow night since, as I said, I'm on break! Come back and check out how my Scampi on Couscous pans out!