If you’re getting tired of your usual meatballs spaghetti or carbonara (not that there’s anything wrong with these two, they’re my absolute favorite in fact!), then try spaghetti aglio e olio with mushroom. Tessa actually made this one – it’s one of her favorite dishes to make when she’s on a ‘diet’ – I know, don’t ask me.
Anyway, whenever she’s making spaghetti aglio e olio, she would always make quite a big batch and then simply make smaller portion to store in separate containers before stuffing them in the fridge (then that’s what she’ll be having for the next few days – either for lunch or dinner). Sometimes, when she’s in the mood, she would make a quick garlic bread to go with it.
What is Spaghetti Aglio e Olio
Spaghetti aglio e olio is an Italian classic that literally translates to ‘spaghetti, garlic, and oil.’ And apparently when one decides to add chili pepper to it, then it becomes spaghetti aglio, olio e pepperoncino – I know, tongue twister much. Anyway, in our house at least, we simply call it pasta aglio e olio.
It turns out that this pasta dish is a traditional Italian peasant-style cooking in which fewer ingredients are used as much as possible. Well, it does make sense and it totally works – the fewer the ingredients the easier and more economically friendly it is to cook. You see, more likely, you pretty much already have these ingredients already in your pantry. And with literally 3 basic ingredients, the likelihood of you nailing this dish is let’s just say pretty high, right?
There are a lot of variations for this pasta dish, you can add greens (spinach or broccoli), meat (chicken bits or bacon), and even anchovies. For Tessa’s version, she used mushroom instead – to keep it on the healthy side she said (she would even call it an ‘almost’ vegetarian pasta sometimes).
So, are you interested to give it a try now?
How to Make Spaghetti Aglio e Olio
For ingredients, you’ll need:
- 400 grams Spaghetti
- ½ cup Olive oil
- About a cup of Shiitake mushrooms (sliced thinly, or minced – up to you)
- About 10 Garlic cloves (again, thinly sliced or minced – up to you)
- About ½ teaspoon Crushed red pepper flakes
- Parmesan cheese
And this is how you’ll easily make spaghetti aglio e olio with mushroom:
First off, cook your spaghetti noodles, if you don’t know how no worries, check it out here.
In a little olive oil, saute the mushroom – let it cook for a few minutes. If you want your mushrooms chunky, that’s okay, too, though, of course, it’ll take longer to cook.
Then once cooked, set it aside. In the same pan add the rest of the olive oil and cook your garlic (on low heat, you want your garlic to slowly cook), before it’s about to brown add the crushed red pepper flakes.
Now it’s time to add the pasta (better if it’s just about done so that it’ll finish cooking in the pan). Scoop the pasta out directly to the pan, and don’t worry about draining the pasta water – that’s all good, it’ll help in binding everything together. And yes, don’t forget to add back your mushroom.
Just keep stirring until pasta is coated with the olive oil-garlic-pepper sauce and the pasta is cooked all the way through (or al dente, up to you). You can add salt, but remember that you’ll be topping it with a lot of parmesan. So perhaps, give it a taste first.
Now your spaghetti aglio e olio with mushroom is ready to be served.
Pretty simple, right? Let us know how yours turn out.
