Pasta aglio olio e peperoncino

These are two of my favorite ingredients to cook with. And, as luck would have it, they add up to one excellent pasta recipe.

It does not get any simpler than this, folks. Except for olive oil and a little (optional) parsley, you are looking at the full ingredient list right here.

Aglio olio simply means garlic and oil. Alone they make for a very fine pasta sauce, but the addition of peperoncino (hot pepper) adds a nice kick.

Not that you need instruction, but here's how to make it.

Pasta aglio olio e peperonico
(Pasta with garlic, oil and hot pepper)
Recipe

2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 dried hot pepper, crushed
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. fresh parsley
1/2 lb. pasta (spaghetti works well)
Pasta water as needed

Begin cooking the pasta in a well-salted pot of water. (Reserve about a cup of the water after the pasta is cooked.)
In a saucepan saute the garlic and pepper in the olive oil at low to medium heat until golden but not hard.
Add the cooked pasta and half a cup of pasta water to the saucepan and mix thoroughly at high heat until melded. (Add more water if needed, but it should not be watery.) Toss in the parsley and mix some more.
Serve with or without grated cheese.

I said it was simple, didn't I?

Pasta and chickpeas

The vegetarian crowd is gonna dig this, I think.

(You with me here, Mavis? Kitty? How about you, Miss Glodes?)

Not only are chickpeas high in protein, meaning that this is a pretty damned solid dinner entree nutrition-wise. But it's also a super tasty and satisfying dish. A lot more so than those bland-as-hell (afterthought) pasta concoctions that I see so many restaurants passing off as legitimate menu choices for non-meat eaters.

No kidding, I am craving a bowl of this stuff right now. It really is that good.

Almost as appealing is how easy it is to make. All I did was prepare an aglio y olio sauce, but with a good dose of hot pepper and, of course, the chickpeas. Hell, I even used the canned chickpeas, that's how fast it all came together.

I keep telling you people that I am a simpleton. Perhaps now you will believe me.

Pasta and chickpeas

Recipe

4-6 garlic cloves, chopped

4 anchovy fillets

1 hot pepper, chopped

extra virgin olive oil

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1/2 lb. rigatoni (or pasta of your choice)

1/2 cup (or more) well-salted pasta water, reserved from rigatoni

In a large pot of well-salted water, cook the pasta until almost done (remember to reserve some of the water).

Saute the garlic, anchovy and pepper in an ample amount of the oil until soft.

Add the chickpeas and saute until warmed through, about five minutes.

Add the cooked pasta to the pan, as well as the 1/2 cup of water, and cook at a high heat for about two minutes more, then serve.

Roe, roe, roe

Last time I was in Roma a disreputable traveling companion persuaded me to smuggle around five hundred dollars' worth of bottarga back home in an empty... on second thought, you and the Customs people don't really need to know about that.

Point is, I did it.

And I did it because I love the stuff.

Though that haul was long ago consumed, regular trips back home to New York ensure a steady (legal) supply. As long as I'm feeling flush, that is. This stuff ain't cheap; the package above, purchased at Buon Italia at the Chelsea Market, weighs in at 0.310 lbs. So, at $79 a pound, the pack cost $24.49.

They don't call it the poor man's caviar for nothing.

If you're not familiar, bottarga is salted and cured grey mullet roe (bottarga di muggine, to be precise). The roe from tuna and other fish are also used to make bottarga, but mullet roe is the most commonly employed. There is fierce debate over which is better, tuna or mullet, but we will not be engaging in that conflict here.

I use the stuff for one thing, basically: for spaghetti alla bottarga, one of my absolute favorite dishes. And it's so simple to make. All it is really is an Aglio y Olio (garlic and oil) sauce that you add grated bottarga to.

That's it.

How much bottarga you use in a recipe, to my mind anyway, depends on the bottarga you have. This particular package was on the mild-tasting side, and so I wound up using one side of the egg sack for a pound of pasta. (For saltier bottarga I have used much less than this.)

For starters, get the grater out and have at it.

Like so.

Then chop some (okay, more than just some) garlic, and a little hot pepper (from the garden last year, dried hanging in the kitchen all winter).

Saute in extra virgin olive oil, you know the drill.

Locate your favorite spaghetti. (This is mine, but it's a bitch to find, so if anybody's listening, I am now accepting gifts from perfect -- and even not so perfect -- strangers.)

Why must such a mundane photo appear? Two reasons. One, you must set aside some pasta water before draining; it is a crucial element to finishing the dish. Two, stare into the water and repeat after me: I will use plenty of salt in the pasta water. I will use plenty of salt in the pasta water. I will use plenty of salt in the pasta water.

No great mystery from here on in. Toss the pasta in the pan with the garlic and oil, sprinkle several pinches of bottarga on top, add some of the water and stir it all up.

Then plate it, and top each helping with some more of the bottarga.

Probably the most tasty simple dish you ever ate.