Crab Stick Pasta Aglio e Olio

Aglio e Olio means “Garlic and Oil” in Italian.  This is a very easy dish that you can whip up in less that 30 minutes.  Great when we have unexpected visitors.  The good thing about this recipe is, all the ingredients are  found in our kitchen (that is for the aglio e olio minus the crab stick and parsley).

You may also add chili flakes to add a little kick to this recipe.  Instead of crab stick, you may add tuna or bacon to add extra texture and flavor to the dish.  This is a simple recipe you can make depending on your budget.  What makes this dish delicious is its pure simplicity.

Ingredients


Pasta
3 liters                                 Water
2 teaspoon                          Salt (be generous with the salt as the pasta will absorb some of the salt 
                                           giving flavor to it and saving us adding salt at the end of the process)
300 grams                           Linguine (or pasta of your choice)


Crab Stick
8 pieces                              Crab stick (Again, depending on your budget, you can add more if you 
                                           want.)
2 Tablespoon                      Cornstarch

Garlic Oil
6 cloves                               Garlic, minced
4 Tablespoon                       Olive Oil (Add more oil at the end of the process if you think its not 
                                            enough.  We don’t want a pasta swimming in Olive Oil pool.)
1 cup                                    Chopped Parsley
Pepper to taste

Procedure


Pasta
Boil water and salt.  Add pasta and cook until al dente.  Drain.

Crab Stick

Cut the crab stick into three parts.  Toss in the cornstarch until the crab sticks are covered.  Deep fried until slightly golden brown.  Set aside.  (I found out that this should be deep fried in a not-so-hot cooking oil.  frying the crab sticks into the not-so-hot oil until slightly golden brown helps maintain the body of the crab sticks.  When I fried the second batch of the crab sticks, this time, the oil is already hotter, the end result is soft and airy crabs ticks.  Its as if the outer layer of the crab stick became lumpia wrapper.)


Garlic Oil


In a sauce pan, saute garlic in olive oil.  Saute the garlic until cooked but not golden brown.  Add half of the parsley (for additional flavor).  Add black pepper.  Toss in the pasta and crab sticks.  Garnish with the remaining parsley.

HOW DOES IT TASTE?
This Crab Stick Pasta Aglio e Olio is very tasty.  The flavor of the olive oil, garlic and parsley lingered in every strands of the pasta.  The crispy crab sticks add texture and flavor that compliments well with the pasta.  What I did was, sprinkle a little chili flakes and the result is so damn good.  Adding chili flakes gives this dish additional life and kick.