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my favourite easy meal:
- tagliatelle in boiling salted for water for 5min (1min less than the time to al dente on the box)
- drain most of the water, add olive oil and minced garlic (use a garlic press), turn up heat and stir 1 min
- take off heat, mix in grated “pizza cheese”
this is sort of a freakish variant of aglio e olio that's easier to prepare and more spicy. it's even better if you add chili flakes at the same time as the garlic
this is one of many variations on “pasta with garlic and cheese” but it's one that suits my tastes. generally speaking a store-bought frozen or chilled product of that description, or one from a restaurant, doesn't have the properties i like, but this one does
what do i like about this?
- i don't like spaghetti and other smooth pastas. i also don't like tagliatelle if it has an overly smooth surface. coarser pasta is good
- no sauce, no cream. the seasonings(?) adhere to the pasta instead
- the garlic is brighter for being undercooked
also having some amount, but not too much, grated mozarella-esque processed cheese that melts into it has obvious appeal i think. i have realised with time that i don't actually like parmesan. the cheese here is subtle, the garlic takes centre stage
i feel like i don't really eat a diverse enough variety of things but it's cool that i do apparently have a taste i can meaningfully articulate
oh, this also works without garlic with just chili flakes, in a pinch. i think that works because of the olive oil. you can also remove the cheese, it's something of a bonus. but without the olive oil it's not really the same dish, it's what actually binds stuff to the pasta
@hikari you can omit the olive oil for butter on a flavourless oil but it doesn't hit the same