Tuesday, October 13, 2009
So what you do is you take a bunch of basil, and four or five cloves of crushed garlic, and two tablespoons of dried pepper flakes, and you cover it with olive oil. Put it on low heat. I used canned tomatoes, but fresh plum tomatoes would be better; peel and seed them, then strain the seeds out. Heat some olive oil in a pan, then add the tomatoes and the strained juice. Season with salt-- a couple of teaspoons or so. Mash the tomatoes up with a potato masher, and bring the whole thing to a frothing boil. Meanwhile, the basil/garlic/pepper flake thing is probably boiling too. Turn that off-- You don't want to cook the basil/garlic/pepper flakes, you want the oil to become flavored. Put it aside. Pull the tomatoes off the heat too. Add the seasoned oil. I had about a cup of oil, and I used about a half cup-- the rest will come in handy for something else.
Cook your spaghetti until it is just shy of al dente. Ladle some of the sauce into a skillet, over a low heat, then toss the pasta in, with a little of its cooking water, some grated Parmesan cheese and a pat of butter. Turn the pasta until it is coated, then plate. Here is a pictorial-- annoyingly it doesn't give amounts, so I had to play it by ear.
It is delicious. The flavored oil gives it a basil "pop" that's terrific.
Cook your spaghetti until it is just shy of al dente. Ladle some of the sauce into a skillet, over a low heat, then toss the pasta in, with a little of its cooking water, some grated Parmesan cheese and a pat of butter. Turn the pasta until it is coated, then plate. Here is a pictorial-- annoyingly it doesn't give amounts, so I had to play it by ear.
It is delicious. The flavored oil gives it a basil "pop" that's terrific.
// posted by Bill @ 10:31 AM 
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