Spaghetti Aglio e Olio is a timeless Italian classic pasta dish. This dish has peasant-cooking roots, utilizing a few ingredients to add layers of flavor in one meal. Even though the official name of this simple, iconic dish literally translates to spaghetti, garlic, and oil, there's also an optional ingredient that adds a spicy kick and a nice touch of warmth - the tiny red chili pepper known in Italian as peperoncino rosso, or diavolillo (translation: 'little devil') as it is affectionately referred to in some parts of the country.
The beauty of Pasta Aglio e Olio comes from building out the flavor profile in the olive oil. Better yet, the whole thing comes together in the time it takes for the water to boil, making it the perfect back-pocket pasta to add to your weeknight rotation.
• 1 pound dried spaghetti
• ¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 12 large garlic cloves, cut into thin slivers
• 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes, plus more for serving
• Kosher salt and black pepper
• ⅓ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus lemon wedges for serving
• ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
2. Add 2 tablespoons of salt and the pasta and cook according to the directions on the package. Set aside 1 1/2 cups of the pasta cooking water before you drain the pasta.
3. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a pot large enough to hold the pasta, such as a 12-inch saute pan or a large, shallow pot.
4. Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until it just begins to turn golden on the edges-don't overcook it! Add the red pepper flakes and cook for 30 seconds more.
5. Carefully add the reserved pasta-cooking water to the garlic and oil and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, add 1 teaspoon of salt, and simmer for about 5 minutes, until the liquid is reduced by about a third.
6. Add the drained pasta to the garlic sauce and toss. Off the heat, add the parsley and Parmesan and toss well. Allow the pasta to rest off the heat for 5 minutes for the sauce to be absorbed. Taste for seasoning and serve warm with extra Parmesan on the side.
1. bon appétit is the first brand I thought of in terms of a clean, simple user experience for someone using a recipe to make food online. I think this is a good base foundation for my recipe page and considering what information is most important for the person that has decided to use my page. For instance, I want to keep the recipe before the description so that the user gets the information they need most first.
2. Food&Wine has a great webpage as it provides the simple functionality that bon appetit provides. However, I feel like the "how to make Pasta Aglio e Olio" section is a little bit redundant when the instruction section is only a few scrolls away. I also feel like the blocks of text makes me less inclined to read through it, so I will try to keep my text short and sweet, or at least in smaller more easily consumable chunks.
3. The Mediterranean Dish is actually not too bad of a user experience. I love the jump to recipe and jump to video buttons, as it really helps users find the information they're looking for quickly/efficiently. I think images are too big, and it makes scrolling through the page a little bit clunky.
1. mubasic is a high-quality music simulator, and I love the smooth animations and clean shapes that the website utilized. I want to take some inspiration from mubasic by incorporating interactive elements to my webpage like satisfying button clicks.
2. Spotify Design also displays an excellent use of interactive elements like mubasic with images you can click through and animated images behind the images of the Spotify "In the Spotlight" pictures. The thing that sets this website apart from mubasic however is that it sticks to a limited color plaette, making for a more cohesive visual experience.
3. Swab the World has textural differences in the way they divide up the page. In the section where it says "The World is a Colourful Place," this section uses an edge that resembles a page tear. In corporating eye-catching textures in the appropriate areas could add visual variety.