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Aglio Olio with Prawns
Aglio Olio with Prawns
Only one photo because I was really so hungry when I was preparing this meal, I swear I almost feel myself fainting, haha! I wonder if anyone has fainted while preparing a meal? This reminds me of the characters in the game Sims 2, who will collapse on the floor due to inadequate sleep/food/shower, but the minute you do something about it (like feed them), they will rejuvenate on the spot (& you see their health bar rising). While I was cooking this, I pictured my health (the green bar) slowly dropping to red, and my mission is to cook and eat this in time before my health bar drops to zilch (over imaginative mind at work again?).
Luckily, this is such a quick and easy pasta dish so I didn’t faint (thankfully)! It tastes so good this time round too (most probably due to my hunger :P)
Aglio Olio is a dish that holds sentimental value for me, because when I was a TOTAL noob cook (I consider myself a beginner noob cook now, haha), this was the dish I use to learn some culinary basics. In the words of my friend w who taught me the dish, it’s “very easy to cook, but difficult to perfect”. The first few times that I cooked this, the fire was too strong and the garlic was burnt. If I didn’t put the correct amount of salt, the dish turns out either too bland or too salty. And there must be a correct amount of garlic and olive oil to bring out the favour. If you want to practise your culinary skills, this is a good dish to start, heehee!
Ingredients
(Serves 1)100g spaghetti
1-2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp chopped garlic
5 large prawns/shrimps (shells & veins removed)*
1/2 cup chopped fresh english parsley/basil (I use 1/2 tbsp of dried basil)
chilli flakes (optional)
salt/garlic salt* Note: Didn’t have the time to de-vein my prawns this time round, though the extra-large tiger prawns I buy usually do not comes with veins :[
Directions
1. Add some vegetable oil and salt to a pot of water, and boil the spaghetti till al dente (according to the instructions on the package). Drain & set aside.
2. In a saucepan (medium flame), heat olive oil and stir fry chopped garlic, parsley/basil and chilli flakes till they are infused with the oil.
3. Add the prawns and stir fry till they are cooked. Toss in the pasta and stir evenly.
4. Season with salt (about 1/2 tsp and add more if needed) and stir well. You can garnish with parsley flakes, grated cheese and garlic bits before serving.
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I’m submitting this dish to Presto Pasta Nights, guest-hosted (for the first time) by Closet Cooking this week.
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{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
I haven’t cooked this for a long time, pasta with prawns. Yes, it’s difficult to shoot photos when you are so hungry. It will be a case of, “Oh, forget it, just tuck in.” And worse, due to hunger, can’t get a nice shot. :o
That looks great! Shrimp and garlic pasta is one of my favorites. Thanks for sharing with Presto Pasta Nights!
This is a great dish to make when the organic garlic farmer who lives not too far from here brings his garlic to the farmers’ market. He grows more than a dozen varieties, some spicy, some mild, and all would be great in this recipe.
Great choice! I love the trilogy – olive oil, garlic and shrimp. Thanks for sharing with Presto Pasta Nights.
Yummy! Aglio Olio for me if I want a change from tomato-based pasta!
Looks good. I love the combination of garlic and olive oil. I probably wouldn’t put cheese on this, but perhaps that’s just me. :)
I made this dish with chopped scallops last night. One of the easiest and most satisfying. Can’t miss. For me, the secret is a slow, super-low flame to keep the garlic light and the seafood from turning rubbery. Glad you at least got one shot in, Wiffy. Your photos are too pretty to miss.
omg! my fav pasta!
i luv aglio olio…especially if the chilli has xtra kick ~drool~
Thanks for the kind comments :XO:
Livia: Heh, come over my place, we can cook this together :)
it’ll be better if u could put in the preparation and cooking time. :D
Mmmm anything with prawns is a winner in my books!
Wiffy, it looks soooo delicious! :D
Thank you for stopping by and for all your comments, I read them all, just I’m not getting enough time to reply on time :oops:
Still jealous of your emoticons… did not get a chance to seat down and draw my owns… but soon :P
I had tried out your recipe by doubling up the amount. The combination is nice but just that it is a bit dry. Looks like the sauce is not enough to coat the pasta. Anything that I should take note?
Hi lk!
How much olive oil did u add? Maybe u can up the amount. As for the spaghetti, if u cooked it before hand and set aside for a while, they may become dry. U can rinse the cooked pasta briefly with water before tossing them into the pan. Hope this helps to make it less dry. btw, u have a nice blog ;)
I used 3 tbsp olive oil and the cooked 200g pasta seems too huge to fit into 2 person’s stomach. Will try ur suggestion next time.
Tks for dropping by at my blog.
I like ur pancake with fruit too! Pancake is my son’s favourite esp banana pancake. :-)
wahaha I think this shows we are much more greedy! XD Maybe u can use 80g of pasta per person if u find the portions too huge ;) Thanks for ur kind comment ^^
hi ! anyone know how come my chopped garlic all become burnt, black after i stir fry with olive oil? and my saucepan also got burnt at the bottom….haiz…
Susan: Oh I’m glad to hear that you tried and like it :)
Christine: Hi! I think your stove fire is too strong. Did u use the maximum flame? Like what Susan said above, the secret is a slow, low flame to prevent burning. For my stove and pan, I set the flame to medium low. You should hear the garlic sizzling gently in the oil if the temperature is right (if it does not sizzle, then the temperature is too low). Hope this helps :wink:
I tried cooking this dish, but find that the pasta still taste a bit bland. How do I improve?
Hi Helen … did u add any salt? It will taste bland if salt is not added. You can start with a tsp and adjust according to taste. You can double the herbs used especially if they are fresh and not those bottled type … hope this helps :)
I did add salt when I was boiling the pasta. Do I still need to add when frying the pasta with other ingredients? Will using more olive oil help too? Thanks for advising.
Oh yes… you definitely need to add salt when frying the pasta, otherwise it will taste very bland! U can start with 1/2 to 1 tsp of salt, and add more if needed. Hope this works for you :)
Now it tastes better. I’ve also put more oil and parsley flakes! Thanks a lot. :)
woah… that aglio olio looks great! bring on the chili flakes and cheese. :D
Hmm… Where can i find chilli flakes? Cant find it in NTUC..
Hi supernoob, you can buy bottled chilli flakes in NTUC or Cold Storage. A common brand is masterfoods. It’s where all the bottled herbs and spices are kept. Hope you find it.
Hi, I tried this recipe yesteday and I added red peppers and tomatoes to add colour. It turned out fantastic, definitely and amazing recipe!
Thanks ranna, glad to hear you like it! I like the addition of red peppers and tomatoes, sounds delish!
Hi… i am a noob here… but does anyone know which brand of spaghetti will taste better after cooking?
hi ps, I personally find that most brands are fine. I use the san remo brand a lot. Just make sure you follow the cooking time written on the package and not over-cook the noodles.
Great post. I would like to share some other tips which I picked up from watching an Italian chef in his kitchen.
I’m not sure if anyone has commented on this but adding oil to the water for boiling the pasta is generally not advised, and also not what the Italians do. It may not be as crucial here since you aren’t dealing with a sauce, but it tends to prevent the pasta from absorbing the flavours of the sauce. And if you are adding oil to prevent the pasta from sticking to each other, you simply have to stir the pasta a bit in the beginning. Also, you can also consider putting enough salt into the boiling water such that it tastes almost like sea water – you don’t have to salt the pasta after this, and is again what the Italians do.
The other thing is I found out that restaurants don’t have the garlic sliced very thinly (emincé) instead of diced simply because it looks better. It actually tastes better because your garlic is more uniformly cooked and the texture works better overall, but I suppose some people prefer their garlic to taste a bit more raw. I personally don’t prefer having the garlic taste raw as I like the garlic to have a bit of sweetness.
Finally, when I do an aglio olio with prawns, I tend to saute the prawns separately because if you do it with the garlic, you risk burning the garlic or having it become slightly bitter (again, a matter of preference). As aglio olio is such a simple dish, I think you need to really nail the few ingredients in it!
One other tip is to add some of the water used to boil the pasta into the pan along with the pasta. The starch in the pasta water helps to give a somewhat creamy or smooth texture to the pasta, and helps get you nearer to the type you get in Italian restaurants. I take the pasta out of the pan only after the pasta water has evaporated – don’t worry about the pasta being overcooked and no longer al dente. If you are really a food nazi, you may even wanna boil the prawn heads in some water to get a seafood broth to add in with the pasta water – this gives your pasta that extra somethin’ somethin’ – this is what many Italian restaurants actually do; they add in seafood stock to give it that umami-ness you never get with home-cooked pasta.
The final tip is to add a knob of butter for maybe a minute or two before you take the pasta out of the pan. Do remember to adjust the amount of olive oil and salt (if you use salted butter) if you decide to do this, as you don’t want your pasta to be too oily or too salty. I got this tip from the restaurant I used to work at. I’m not sure if this is what the Italians do though.
Hope this helps!
Hi BC – wow, really love the tips! thanks so much for your detailed explanation and sharing, I’ve read it all and really appreciate it. shall attempt my aglio oilo with prawns again :)
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