This is a Sienese recipe from our old family friend, Rossana. It’s rather like an intensely herby version of a classic aglio, olio, pepperoncino. It’s perfect in an emergency, when you’ve got home, want dinner in 10 minutes but don’t have any food aside from pasta, olive oil, garlic and a few sprigs of rosemary either knocking around the fridge or snipped from the bush on your windowsill (you can also used dried roseamry at a pinch). The original recipe doesn’t include chilli flakes, but I add a generous pinch as I find it add another layer to the herby garlic flavour and keeps every mouthful interesting.
Spaghetti al rosmarino
‘EMERGENCY’ ROSEMARY & GARLIC SPAGHETTI
Serves 2
preparation:– 5 minutes
cooking:– 10 minutes
preparation:– 5 minutes
cooking:– 10 minutes
as seen in
Winter in Tuscany
ingredients
- 4 rosemary sprigs,
leaves picked - 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves, finely crushed or chopped
- pinch of chilli flakes, or to taste
- sea salt
- 300 g (101/2 oz) spaghetti
- grated parmesan, to serve
method
Put a large pan of well salted water on to boil.
Very finely chop the rosemary leaves.
In a wide frying pan, large enough to add the pasta to later, gently heat the olive oil with the rosemary. Gently heat for 5 minutes, allowing the rosemary to infuse into the oil, it shouldn’t fry furiously or turn brown. Halfway through, add the garlic, chilli and a generous pinch of salt.
Once the water is at a galloping boil, add the spaghetti. Once it has fully wilted down into the water, stir it around so that the strands don’t stick together. Cook until al dente as instructed on the packet.
Halfway through the pasta cooking time, add 2 ladleful’s of the pasta cooking water to the rosemary and turn up the heat so that it’s at a rolling boil. After 2-3 minutes, once it has reduced into an amalgamated liquid. Switch off the heat.
Use tongs to transfer the spaghetti to the frying pan and toss with the rosemary and garlic sauce.
Serve pipping hot in shallow bowls with a drizzle of oil and lots of finely grated parmesan.
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