My Coveted Aglio Recipe

Aglio Olio Recipe.

 This is a dish I cook VERY often but have taken ages to perfect. I used to cheat before and use chicken stock to flavour the dish but I don’t know, I don’t think the Italians use chicken stock right? Haha.

So anyway, I usually cook this dish with bacon and mushrooms. One packet of back bacon (attempting to use the healthier version cos streaky bacon has a lot more fat than back bacon) and the pre cut button mushrooms you can get in a pack from GIANT or NTUC, I think they’re like $2.50. I always stick to angel hair pasta for aglio cos because of how thin it is, it absorbs flavour much better which you need for this dish cos it can be bland if you use thicker pastas like linguine.

I’m a huge herb user in my cooking and for this I usually use Thyme and Parsley flakes. Rule of thumb; don’t mix more than 2 herbs in one dish. The taste is really overpowering and you’ll probably feel sick after just a few mouthfuls. And of course, my favourite spice of all time, black pepper.

Alright, time to get organised. These are the ingredients you’re gonna need:

1.      Garlic (A whole bulb or you can use the pre cut one but that burns easily so don’t be lazy!)

2.      2 Chilli Padi

3.      Olive Oil

4.      Garlic Powder (if you have! It’s not really that necessary)

5.      Thyme and Parsley ( it doesn’t have to be the fresh one, you can just get the bottled ones)

6.      San Remo Angel Hair Pasta

7.      Sea Salt

8.      A packet of back bacon

9.      A packet of mushrooms

And here’s the way to cook it:

1.      Boil your pasta in a pot of boiling water seasoned with salt and olive oil.

2.      Coat your pan with olive oil and fry the bacon, once the bacon is browned you can add the mushrooms

3.      Remove the bacon and mushrooms and use the bacon-flavored oil to fry the garlic. Make sure it doesn’t burn!

4.      Add a few tablespoons of the pasta water to the pan and let it simmer abit before adding the thyme,parsley, salt and pepper.

5.      Add the cooked angel hair in and toss the pasta till it’s coated in the sauce.

6.      Add back the bacon and mushrooms and you’re done!