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Spaghetti Aglio e Olio with Shrimps


Course Main Course
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 4
Author Sandra | Sandra's Easy Cooking

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp. EVOO
  • 3 Garlic Cloves sliced or minced
  • 4 Oz per person deveined medium-sized shrimp, tail-on
  • ¼ tsp. Sea Salt or to taste
  • ¼ tsp. Chili Pepper Flakes or chili powder
  • 1 tbsp. Dried parsley or 1/3 cup Chopped Italian Parsley
  • 1 cup Pasta water read below
  • Freshly grated cheese - Grana Padano or Parm Cheese
  • 1 lbs. Spaghetti linguini could work well, too + water + salt

Instructions

  1. Put a large pot of salted water on to boil. Add pasta to the boiling water.  Cook according to your pasta pack. For this dish you pasta needs to be close to al dente because it will finish cooking in the skillet with the sauce.

  2. Add 2 tablespoons of the oil in the big skillet or a pan, scatter the garlic in the oil and cook for about 20 seconds just to infuse the olive oil, then add shrimps. Cook another minute, shaking the pan or turning shrimps on the other side, and cook until the garlic slices are an even light gold and shrimp pink and whitish. If you do not like to deshell shrimps while eating, de-shell them before cooking. HOW to clean shrimp - CLICK HERE 

  3. Add just a pinch of sea salt and chili flakes/powder, as well as dried parsley.
  4. Ladle in about 1 cup of boiling "pasta" water and cook rapidly for a minute or two, reducing the liquid by a third or so. Taste the sauce; add sea salt if needed to taste. Keep at a low simmer until the pasta is ready.
  5. When the pasta is not quite done but very close, bring the sauce to rolling simmer, and then pull the pasta out a pot and add it to the skillet.
  6. Finish the sauce and pasta by tossing them together in the skillet over low to medium heat until the pasta is tender to the bite. If the dish is dry, incorporate more pasta water; if too saucy or soupy, reduce with higher heat and a bit more cooking. Add the parsley during tossing.
  7. Grate the cheese at the very end before serving and perhaps some more parsley.

Recipe Notes

Pasta water is water that pasta cooks in. The water in which you boil your pasta makes your pasta dish more delicious, binding the sauce to the pasta, while also improving the flavor and texture of the sauce. You would just need to scoop or ladle a cup or two before pasta is done or reserve it so you could add it to the sauce. How much salt to add to the pot of water before cooking pasta? 4 quarts (16 cups) water. 1 tablespoon regular table salt (or 1.5 tablespoons Kosher salt) 1 pound (uncooked) dry pasta.