Linguine With Olive Oil, Garlic, And Herbs

From the book The Basic Gourmet by Diane Morgan, Dan Taggart, Kathleen Taggart, and Georgia Vareldzis

Introduction

Here is a very simple pasta dish that is both delicious and healthy. It makes an excellent accompaniment to meat or it can be served with a salad as a meatless main dish. This recipe illustrates that the finest and freshest ingredients can make a seemingly simple offering as superb as the most complicated dish.

Ingredients

Steps

1. Fill an 8- to 10-quart stockpot ¾ full with water and bring to a boil. The water will heat faster — about 10 minutes — if you cover the pot.
2. Heat olive oil in an 8-inch frying pan over medium heat for 1 minute. Add minced garlic and cook, stirring, until garlic begins to turn light brown, 1 to 2 minutes. (Watch carefully for the color change, because overcooked garlic has an unpleasant taste.) Remove pan from heat and set aside.
3. Add salt to the stockpot when the water comes to a boil. Now add linguine and cook until al dente as directed in Understanding and Cooking Fresh and Dried Pasta. Fresh pasta should be done about 30 seconds after the water boils again; dried pasta will take about 10 minutes. Drain pasta immediately in a colander, but do not rinse the pasta.
4. Return the drained linguine to the stockpot and add the garlic-oil mixture. Stir to coat pasta well. Cook for 1 or 2 minutes over low heat. (This cooks away any water that has clung to the pasta.) Sprinkle herbs and black pepper over pasta and toss lightly. Place pasta in a warm serving bowl and serve immediately. Pass the Parmesan to be sprinkled on top of the pasta.

This content is from the book The Basic Gourmet by Diane Morgan, Dan Taggart, Kathleen Taggart, and Georgia Vareldzis.