AGLIO OLIO CRUDO

A Perfect Pair Clay mono type 14x8

No, I'm not calling anyone a nasty name in Italian. I'm hosting a small dinner party tonight, and two of the guests own and operate their own restaurants in Paducah, both well known for their great food! You gotta wonder...am I crazy to think that I can serve anything that will impress them? But I have two things working in my favor. First, I know that all of my guests are VERY fond of eating, and second, I will serve them Aglio olio crudo!

Aglio olio crudo is a remarkably simple but elegant pasta dish. The ingredients consist of pasta (linguine, spaghetti, or angel hair are my preferences), several cloves of finely chopped garlic, olive oil, finely chopped fresh parsley, and 1 or 2 pads of butter (optional).

Preparation is even simpler. Remove the cooked past to a large serving dish and drizzle with the olive oil, about 1/3 to 1/2 a cup. Add some of the pasta water to provide some liquid and mix in the raw (crudo) garlic and parsley, tossing it well, adding butter if desired). Drizzle once more with olive oil and serve immediately. The amount of the specific ingredients is a judgment call that becomes easy to make after preparing this dish one or more times.

There will be a second course of course: Sausage cooked with portobello mushrooms in white wine and onions, and broccoli rabe sauteed in olive oil with garlic. I'll post these "recipes" another time.

For a bit of color I'll add some sliced raw tomatoes (E Coli free) and of course the chianti.

My fingers are crossed. Wish me well.