SPAGHETTI WITH OLIVE SAUCE – Recipe by Piero Benigni – This recipe of mine gives you a really tasty dish, where olives and tomato combine in an outstanding and conquering result. Easy to prepare in less than 30 minutes, you can do it for your family or when you have guests, who will appreciate and remember it for a long time.
Ingredients for 2 people
- 180 gspaghetti (or other pasta)
- 12olives (black or brown, stoned)
- 5 spoonstomato sauce (about 2 oz)
- 1 clovegarlic
- 150 gtomato (ripe, about 5 oz)
- 3 spoonsolive oil
- 30 gpecorino cheese (or parmesan, 1 oz)
- pepper (red hot chili, at taste)
Utensils for spaghetti with olive sauce
- Cooker
- Pot
- Pan
- Chopping Board
- Knife
- Wooden fork
- Colander
- Hand Mixer if needed
- Scale
- Grater
Getting ready and initial cooking
First thing grate and weight cheese, chop garlic, clean tomato, stone olives if needed. If you have a hand mixer coarsely chop olives, put in the mixer pot together with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and mix quickly. If you don’t have the mixer, chop olives very finely. Put skillet over a low flame, pour a tablespoon of olive oil, add chili and chopped garlic, gently brown until pale yellow. Add 5 tablespoons of tomato sauce and half of the olive sauce (or finely chopped olives), combine and cook for 10 minutes. Stir often. Check and adjust salt if necessary.
Turn off flame, add chopped tomato and wait pasta to be ready.
Final cooking of spaghetti with olive sauce
When pasta is still very al dente (i.e. at 3/4 of cooking time) drain and add into skillet, save pasta water. Resume flame and finish cooking by stirring and/or sautéing with the help of little amounts of pasta water. When pasta is al dente turn off flame, add cheese and the remaining olive sauce (or finely chopped olives). Stir well, taste, add salt if needed. Final dish must be creamy and wet. Serve with a topping of a little more cheese and black pepper if you like.
This dish should be eaten as soon as prepared, however you can keep it in the fridge for 2 days or freeze it with a shelf life of 3 months.
TIPS AND TRICKS IN THE KITCHEN
– “Al dente” means that pasta is cooked but still firm and has some core when tasting. Cooking time is generally shown on pasta packing, observe it and do not overcook! Rice is normally done in 16 minutes after the first broth added when preparing a risotto. Check it by chewing some grains with your incisors: you must feel a core.
– How much water and salt when boiling pasta or rice? The simple Italian rule is 1-10-100 and means 1 litre of water with 10 grams of salt every 100 grams of pasta. Converted in US measures, it is 2 qt of water with 1/3 oz of coarse salt every 3 1/2 oz of pasta. Coarse salt is normally used for the pasta water.
– How much pasta or rice per serving? In Italy the standard quantity at home or in restaurants is 80 g (2 3/4 oz), a little more in the South. This can seem scarce, but remember that pasta or rice are always a first course, followed by a main course of meat or fish and a side dish of vegetables. Pasta or rice are always eaten first and alone. They never have another dish together nor are they a side dish to something else.