aglio e olio

Aglio e olio in two easy steps and 10 extravagant photographs.

Aglio = garlic
Olio = oil

1) cook some pasta
2) heat olive oil and butter in a pan, roll in the cooked pasta, season with salt/pepper and Parmigiano cheese.

The name refers to how pasta is dressed. It's implied that the oil is olive oil but it's mixed with butter. The name leaves off salt and pepper and chile pepper flakes and Parmigiano cheese and basil, but all that can be forgiven because then the name would be pasta condetta con aglio e l'olio di oliva e burro con sale e pepe e fiocchi del pepe di peperoncino rosso ed il formaggio di Reggiano del Parmigiano e basilico, and that's way too long then, innit?

It's an exceeding simple dish, especially if you use dry pasta, but then, what fun would that be? Huh? None! That's what. But it would be no less delicious and the great thing about dry commercial pasta, apart from its ease, is you get the benefit of the whole al dente thing going on by carefully slightly undercooking it, which hardly anybody does. Rare is the plate of dried pasta properly cooked, even in restaurants where you'd expect them to know better, and that's a lasting shame. Aglio e olio is comfort food. It is to me what macaroni and cheese is to most except even easier to make. It's the sort of thing you whip up when coming home late from the clubs or for those quick lunches where you might crank out a toasted cheese sandwich. Obviously, it can be enhanced however your impulse expresses, seafood is especially nice since that too is quick. I've used bay scallops frozen solid tossed into the sizzling oil. It drops the temperature instantly and cooks the scallops just as quickly as the hot oil thaws them. I've stunned guests, STUNNED them I tell you, by the spattering eclat of that quick stunt.