For Garlic Lovers--Recipe For Aglio Olio Pasta Sauce

This was dinner for Friday night. It was also dinner on New Year's Eve. Though preparing the garlic does take some prep time, once it is in the pan, it will be finished by the time your pasta has finished cooking,so it's a great quick meal. The garlic is sweet and delicious when cooked this one--totally addictive.

Of course, the little angels are still barbarians about food like this, so they get pasta with butter and cheese as their dinner. This is ours--all ours!!!

To peel the garlic you can use the back of the knife method, or try putting the cloves into a microwave for 15 seconds(I haven't tried this myself)

Blanching the cloves in boiling water for 1-2 minutes works, but I am not sure if it would effect the flavor of the garlic in this particular recipe. It has worked fine when I've roasted garlic along with a chicken in the oven, so it's worth trying once.

You can often buy containers of peeled garlic cloves at warehouse club stores like BJs or Costco. The Man (as said many times before) LOVES garlic, and tends to peel a great deal of it for the weekends, so often there is some on hand in a plastic container.

AGLIO OLIO  (Garlic and Olive Oil Sauce for Pasta)

Start a large pot of water boiling and cook 1 lb of spaghetti (we use thin spaghetti, but other varieties work well too) according to package directions.                       

Peel AT LEAST 1 head of garlic cloves and slice lengthwise. 

Heat 8 Tbs olive oil in a large frying pan over low heat.
Add the cloves to the oil and cook, stirring gently. You want to garlic to cook, but NOT brown--burnt garlic is NOT good. Add black pepper to taste--you can add salt too if you like, but I don't.

When the garlic has softened and turns a bit golden, add a handful of grape tomatoes--sliced into halves or smaller pieces, depending on size. If you have any fresh basil on hand, chop a few leaves in as well.

Let the tomatoes cook just until softened--probably about 30 seconds and then take the sauce off the stove.

Toss with the pasta. Add parmesan cheese if you like and ENJOY!!!

Note: This also makes a GREAT dipping sauce for bread--if you have any left!

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