Pasta in Garlic Oil

I guess I haven't updated this thing for a bit. It's partly because I haven't been doing many new recipes of note for a while (not successfully, anyway). But I've developed a couple of good dishes in the past couple of weeks that are in queue for posting. In the meantime, here's a simple side dish.

Sometimes I really don't feel like spending any more than 30 to 45 minutes making dinner. But you don't see me cranking out some nasty Rachel Ray recipe. No.

God, no.

I prefer to get some quick-cooking fish, prepared simply, with some fresh vegetables and another easy item on the side. Most of the time, I'll make rice with my meal; but to mix it up, pasta with a basil- or garlic-flavored olive oil. The most important things to making the flavored oil are:

1. Use GOOD extra virgin olive oil. It doesn't have to be a $50 bottle, or anything that fancy. But just don't use your regular old Local Supermarket Brand oil, claiming to be straight from Tuscany, but actually being the dregs of the process from some less-than-stellar oil producer. Quality is essential.

2. Don't overheat your pan! Olive oil has a low smoke-point; so if you get your pan too hot, the oil will start to vaporize and ruin the flavor. Also, burning garlic makes any dish have a nasty, bitter, charred taste. Keep the heat low, or medium-low, just enough to barely sizzle the garlic in the oil and release the flavor.

So Simple!

Ingredients:

- Cooked pasta

- 5 or 6 Tbsp of high quality extra virgin olive oil

- Red pepper flakes, to taste

- 2 large cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced very thinly

- salt and black pepper, to taste

Procedure:

1. In a stainless steel pan over medium heat, heat up the olive oil for about 5 minutes.

2. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and reduce the heat to medium-low. You just want the garlic and pepper flakes to barely sizzle. Leave them on the heat for about 8 minutes.

3. Add the cooked pasta to the pan, and toss it well enough to coat all of it in the oil. Season it with the salt and black pepper to your liking.

To make things more interesting, I like adding chopped Kalamata olives and capers, and maybe some sliced yellow onions or shallots.