Vegan Confit Aglio e Olio. This is a fancy way of saying “slow cooked garlic and olive oil pasta.”

As always, if you dig this recipe, tag me at @draggedthroughthegarden on instagram and tell me what your favorite shape of pasta is.

Vegan Confit Aglio E Olio. Not the ‘95 Beastie Boys EP.

VEGAN CONFIT AGLIO E OLIO

prep time: 5 minutes
cook time: 15 minutes

Perfect for late cooking after a long shift.

And also, disclaimer: the confit can be prepared in advance so I didn’t tack it onto the prep time. You can make the garlic confit and have it in the fridge for at least a week.

First we’re going to assume you’re cooking this part ahead of time.

What you’ll need:

garlic
olive oil
salt

Get out like four bulbs of garlic. Peel them and be sure you don’t completely bust them open.

Once you have a ridiculous amount of garlic in front of you, preheat your oven to 250°.

Add all of your garlic into a small pot, saucepan or oven-safe ramekin. Submerge the garlic in olive oil. Add a pinch of salt.

Pop the garlic/olive into the oven for two hours. If you wish, you can do three hours at 200° and your kitchen will smell magnificent.

Now you have garlic confit. Transfer into a jar and you can hang onto it in the fridge for a week or so.

Next, the pasta recipe.

You now have garlic confit so now you can make the aglio e olio.

What you’ll need:

spaghetti/linguine/comparable
salt
pepper
red pepper flakes
parsley
vegan parm
olive oil (just in case)

In a pan large enough to eventually withstand spaghetti, add at least 8 cloves of your garlic confit. Add most of the oil too, should amount to a little over half a cup. You can add a splash of fresh olive oil too if there isn’t enough in your confit jar. Bring the flame up to a very, very gentle simmer.

Add your spaghetti/linguine/whatever into another pot with heavily salted, boiling water and cook to al dente. Should be right around 8-10 minutes. Test them as you continue to cook, that’s what I do.

While your pasta is cooking, use a wooden spoon to smash the garlic inside of your pan. They should turn into a sort of garlic paste fairly easily. Throw in as much red pepper as you would like. If your oil starts to get too hot, grab a splash of pasta water and add it to the oil to stall cooking.

While you bask in the smells of that pan, get out a bunch of fresh parsley. Rinse it and dice it nice and fine.

Use more or less if you want, it’s your party.

Now your pasta should be perfectly al dente. Grab some tongs, be careful not to rip the pasta, and add it to your oil mixture. Pasta water is your friend, you want to bring some of that with you too. If your sauce looks anything less than cohesive, add another splash of pasta water and allow the contents of your pan to cook out for a moment.

Gently toss everything around so it’s all coated evenly.

Get out a wedge of vegan parm if you have one handy and grate as much into your pasta as you please. I realize these are very liberal directions but that’s the beauty of it probably.

Now see, you can add more than that. I know I did.

Next, add your parsley. Leave a little bit for garnish later.

Don’t be afraid of little stems, they’re fine.

Give that all a big ol’ final stir, add salt and pepper to taste. Plate up and add extra parm, pepper and parsley to your final product.