Spaghetti aglio e olio — garlic, olive oil and a little chilli
Serves 4 · Prep 5 min · Cook 12 min
The name says it all: aglio e olio, garlic and oil. No tomato, no sauce, nothing to mask anything. Spaghetti, thinly sliced garlic, a pinch of chilli, a little parsley — and an olive oil that carries the dish from start to finish. When there are this few ingredients, their quality is the whole recipe.
That's why we reach for our Madre Terra extra virgin olive oil, cold-extracted in Umbria: we warm it gently to perfume the garlic, then add more, raw, to finish. Beneath it, bronze-cut spaghetti from Libera Terra — organic, grown on land returned to farming in southern Italy — whose rough surface holds the oil as no smooth pasta can. A tasting in the disguise of a recipe — and exactly the kind of dish Gourmethica exists for.
Ingredients
- 400 g Libera Terra spaghetti
- 6 tbsp Madre Terra extra virgin olive oil, plus a drizzle to serve
- 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1 pinch of red chilli (peperoncino), to taste
- 1 small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- salt
Method
- Bring a large pot of water to the boil, salt generously, and cook the spaghetti al dente per the packet time.
- Meanwhile, warm the olive oil over low heat in a large pan. Add the sliced garlic and chilli and let them infuse gently, 2-3 minutes — the garlic should turn pale gold, never brown, or it goes bitter.
- Before draining, reserve a large ladle of the pasta water.
- Tip the drained spaghetti into the pan, off the heat or on the lowest flame. Add a little pasta water and toss vigorously for 1 minute: the starch in the water and the oil emulsify and coat each strand in a silky film.
- Add the chopped parsley, toss once more, and adjust the salt.
- Serve at once, with a final drizzle of raw Madre Terra olive oil.
The move that changes everything: here the oil isn't a seasoning — it's the ingredient. Save some for the end and pour it raw, off the heat: it's what you've come to taste, and the heat mustn't kill it.
More: it's the same oil as on our bruschetta and our spaghetti al pomodoro — a bottle that transforms simple things.
Discover the Madre Terra olive oilFrequently asked
How do you keep the garlic from going bitter?
Low heat, and keep an eye on it. The sliced garlic should only turn pale gold and perfume the oil; the moment it colours too far, it turns bitter. If it's moving too fast, lift the pan off the heat — the hot oil will finish the job.
What's the pasta water for?
It binds the sauce. Its starch, tossed hard with the oil, makes a creamy emulsion that coats the pasta — without it, the oil slides off and the dish stays dry. Always keep a ladleful before you drain.
Which olive oil?
A real extra virgin, one you'd taste off the spoon. In aglio e olio the oil is half the dish, added raw: a mediocre oil shows at once, a fine Umbrian oil makes all the difference.