The hardest part about this dish is saying it!  AGLIO E OLIO Pronunciation: [AH-lyoh ay AW-lyoh]. Other than the difficulty in pronouncing this name, the rest is easy! This is super light as far as pasta dishes go, and great for summer meals.  Use a boxed pasta for this dish. I prefer DeCecco pasta. It’s our go to pasta and is not contaminated with egg, so my son can safely eat it.

This dish brings back many memories of family celebrations spent with my BIG Italian family. The taste of this dish will rely heavily upon the quality of your ingredients. Use only fresh garlic. Use an olive oil you might use for dipping bread, something that has no after taste. I tend to buy only Carapelli. It is a great quality product and makes every dish yummy!! I love the fact that they sell it at Target now!

Directions:

Add a few good drizzles of extra virgin olive oil to a frying pan. Add the sliced fresh garlic and saute it until it is translucent. Use about 8-10 cloves of fresh garlic. Be sure this does not burn, not even slightly. Once it is translucent, take it off the burner and let it sit a minute. In the meantime, bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and add 2 heaping teaspoons of salt. This is your opportunity to impart flavor to your pasta! Once the water comes to a boil, toss in the linguine or spaghetti which ever one you have on hand.  In this photo I used spinach linguine for added color and vitamins.

Let the pasta cook according to the directions on the box. It will cook further in the frying pan.  Put the garlic back on the burner on low heat. After the pasta has cooked about half way through, take out a ladle or two of the starchy pasta water (roughly 1 cup) and let the water simmer with the garlic and olive oil on low heat. Add the pasta without rinsing, to keep the salty taste and cook in the frying pan. Stir until the water solidifies and becomes the consistency of a sauce. You can add a drizzle or two more of the olive oil and mix well.

Then add salt and pepper. Taste it to be sure it doesn’t need more of either. If you like it to have a little kick, add crushed red pepper flakes – a little goes a long way!! We found that out the hard way! Lastly for a nice presentation add parsley flakes. Shave  parmesan cheese on each plate and serve.  YUM!