Nutrition Skinny™

 

(Time: 20-30 minutes, includes boiling water; Serves 2 very generously or 4 smaller portions)

Ingredients
¾ cups extra-virgin olive oil
¼ lb. unsalted butter (1 stick)
1 whole head of garlic, or at least 10 cloves, peeled, sliced thin across the grain
Good quality salt
1 lb. dried spaghetti
4 teaspoons of chile flakes
A generous ½ cup of grated pecorino Romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano
Many, many cranks of the pepper mill

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Directions
Bring large pot of water to a boil.

When water is about to start boiling, place a 10-inch deep-sided sauté pan on low heat.

Add the olive oil, butter, and sliced garlic to the pan and let the butter melt, as the garlic begins to warm through.

When the pasta water is boiling, add the dry spaghetti, and salt to taste.

Add the chile flakes to the warming garlic-oil mixture and swirl the pan a bit.

Stir the spaghetti and make sure it's cooking evenly and the strands are separated.

Swirl the garlic-chile-oil pan smoothly and frequently.

Let the garlic soften and start to turn golden as the butter starts to foam.

When the pasta is "al dente" (about 6-8 minutes), pull the pasta from the boiling water with tongs.

Let it briefly drip the excess water above the pot, and then place it right into the garlic-chile-oil pan.

Turn up the heat under the pasta, and stir vigorously.

Toss the pasta with short sturdy flicks of your wrist, for about a minute.

Turn off the heat, add cheese and a lot of black pepper.

Toss and distribute all the garlic, cheese, and the chile flakes (use two forks like you're tossing a salad)

When all the pasta is coated, serve immediately.