Thought I'd take a departure from Asian dishes and throw out this one. That doesn't mean this isn't chilified to the max though! It uses very hot Birds Eye chillies plus dried chili flakes.
What's special about this method (since Aglio e Olio is usually a simple throw-together dish) is that the sauce is made separately using a stick blender to better control the emulsification of the oil with the pasta water and flavouring ingredients before being combined with the spaghetti. I got this idea when YouTube showed me a 'Michelin starred' Aglio e Olio method, so kind of cribbed it from that. It's pretty much a foolproof way to get a very creamy and well-balanced sauce. I also think this helps elevate what some might consider a relatively pedestrian pasta dish to something much more delectable.
Ingredients
What's special about this method (since Aglio e Olio is usually a simple throw-together dish) is that the sauce is made separately using a stick blender to better control the emulsification of the oil with the pasta water and flavouring ingredients before being combined with the spaghetti. I got this idea when YouTube showed me a 'Michelin starred' Aglio e Olio method, so kind of cribbed it from that. It's pretty much a foolproof way to get a very creamy and well-balanced sauce. I also think this helps elevate what some might consider a relatively pedestrian pasta dish to something much more delectable.
Ingredients
- 180g good quality spaghetti (I used La Molisana)
- 2 small lobster tails, halved and meat cut into chunks
- 1/3 cup good quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- 10 cloves garlic sliced and germs removed
- 2 fresh birds eye chillies or equivalent small hot chillies, sliced
- 1/2 tsp dried chili flakes
- 1/2 tsp dried parsley
- 50g grated Parmesan
- 5g salt
- 1L water
- 1/3 cup of the pasta cooking water
- In a small pan, boil up a small amount of water and put in the garlic. Boil it for a minute then remove it to drain.
- Set your water boiling in a larger pan with the salt added and throw in your spaghetti. Set your cooking timer (9 mins in my case).
- In a large high-sided frying pan (I use a non-stick wok) on a medium heat, add your oil and butter; once the butter stops foaming, put in the lobster (plus shells) the garlic and the fresh chili. Sauté for a couple of minutes until the lobster is cooked and the shells have turned pink.
- Remove the lobster pieces and shells to a plate with some tongs and with your slotted spoon or a fork, scoop out the fried pieces of garlic and the chillies to another small dish.
- Put the majority of the garlic into your blender vessel (retain some small pieces for garnishing) and also tip in the oil/butter mix from the frying pan as well.
- When your spaghetti is done, remove it with tongs to your frying pan and use a ladle to scoop 1/3 cup of the remaining pasta water into your blender vessel.
- Blend the garlic/water/oil mix until you have a smooth emulsion, then tip it over the spaghetti.
- Add the chili flakes, parsley and most of the cheese into the spaghetti and give everything a good toss.
- Plate the spaghetti and array the lobster pieces over the top.
- Garnish with the fried bits of garlic and the chilies and parmesan.
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