Hello, this is Hungry Grizzly.
This time, I want to introduce my recipe of Aglio e Olio which I researched and thought through with all effort. Aglio e Olio is an indispensable dish for home-aloner.
Because even though it’s an economic dish with only 3 ingredients ( pasta, garlic, chili), it is very delicious. So when home-aloner cook by themselves, Aglio e Olio is often in their routine menu.
As a home-aloner, every time I cook, I feel “if I’m gonna cook, I want to eat delicious thing!” If I can cook delicious Aglio e Olio in stable rate, it will certainly make my daily dish better and also things that I can learn by way of recipe development of Aglio e Olio can be used in other pasta, Pescatore or Carbonara.
After realizing that, I started devoting to Aglio e Olio recipe development like that of seasoned boiled egg or tomato sauce.
How to Make the Most Delicious Seasoned Boiled Egg in the World - はらぺこグリズリーの料理ブログ
How to make the most delicious tomato sauce in the world - はらぺこグリズリーの料理ブログ
“I’m gonna make the most delicious Aglio e Olio!!”
One of the important factor in making delicious Aglio e Olio is “to put salt in boiling water”.
“Why do we have to put salt when boiling pasta?” Since I had no knowledge, I started my research from here.
Here are what I learned.
1. It tastes better with light salt flavor
Pasta is made mainly of wheat flour so pasta itself don’t have a lot of taste. Basically, the taste is given by mixing with sauce but since Aglio e Olio is quite simple with garlic and chili, it is important to give pasta light salt flavor.
2. It improves elasticity of pasta
Starch is one of the component of pasta.
This starch becomes softer by boiling (gelatinization). By adding salt, we can slow gelatinization and it result in more elasticity in pasta. The more salt there is, the slower gelatinization and more elasticity pasta will have.
With these results, I understood that deliciousness of the light salt flavor and the texture of noodle is a trade off.
That is to say, if we try to maximize the texture, it means too much salt, and with less salt, we loose the texture.
So I repeated try and error to find out the best salt amount for well balanced salt flavor and texture. With 0.5% of salt, there is no flavor on pasta so it was better not to put at all or even with great texture, it was too salty.
And as a result of many try and error, I found out the best salt amount for Aglio e Olio. Also, I completed the most delicious sauce recipe based on it!! Thank you for reading all this and please look the recipe!!
Ingredient/Cost
1. Garlic 1 clove 40 JPY
2. Chili １ 33 JPY
3. Pasta 100 g 40 JPY
A. Olive Oil 2 Tbsp
B. Salt 35 g
C. Anchovies ½ Tsp
D. Water 2 L
E. Pepper 2 shake
TOTAL: 113 JPY
With there ingredient in mind, there is one point.
Recommended amount of salt is 35 g for 2 L of boiled water.
With there ingredient in mind, there is one point.
As I said earlier, if we try to maximize the texture it’s too salty and with less salt, the texture is not good. However, with the above ratio, you can have delicious pasta.
As a result of my research, the best salt concentration is 1.75% for well-balanced texture and light salt flavor.
From about 1.5%, it starts getting some texture and when it’s over 2%, it’s too salty.
※By the way, you can get the same concentration with 17.5 g of salt for 1 L of boiling water but with less quantity of water, pasta often sticks together and it’s not very good.
How to cook ※In order to make perfect Aglio e Olio, be sure to follow the instruction in red.
1. Boil water and put pasta
2 L of water for 35 g of salt↓
2. Slice chili
※You can control the level of spiciness with quantity of chili seed. The more seed, the more spicy Aglio e Olio becomes.
3. Slice garlic and crush it lightly with knife
※You can change the smell of garlic by its cut. Please refer to the following chart for the change by the cut.
① 1 clove
② a half clove
③ cut vertically
④ cut horizontally
⑤ shredded
⑥ chopped
⑦ grated
You can change the smell of garlic by its cut. Please refer to the following chart for the change by the cut. By crushing sliced garlic, you can enjoy both texture and smell of garlic.
4. Put olive oil in pan and heat garlic, chili, anchovies paste on low heat
With anchovies, you can get the deep taste that garlic and chili can’t realize.
By the way, anchovies in bottle is easier to keep.
I buy this every time. It’s a perfect balance of salt and flavor.
5. Add some pasta boiling water
Add in several times by small quantity!
※Starch from pasta plays the role of emulsifier but if you put all at once, the oil goes down in pan and can’t emulsify.
By adding water in small quantity and mixing after every time, you can make sure it will emulsify.
6. Mix with pasta and adjust seasoning with pepper and finish.
