Spaghetti Aglio e Olio with Green Olives

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Spaghetti Aglio e Olio with Green Olives

Spaghetti aglio e olio is Roman cooking reduced to its essentials: pasta, olive oil, garlic, and restraint. A small addition of green olives adds salinity and bite, sharpening the dish without pulling it away from its roots.

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Why This Dish Matters

Aglio e olio exists because it works. It’s late-night food, weeknight food, and cooking-for-yourself food—built from pantry staples and technique rather than abundance. In Rome, it’s not treated as a “simple” dish so much as an honest one. When it’s right, it’s deeply satisfying. When it’s rushed, it’s forgettable.

The use of green olives reflects how Italian home cooking actually evolves: not through reinvention, but through what’s on hand and used with intention.

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Technique Spotlight: Garlic-Infused Oil, Emulsion, and Salinity

This dish is about control, not speed.

Garlic is gently infused in olive oil until fragrant, never browned. Chili provides heat. Green olives provide salinity and texture. Pasta water—starchy and hot—is what binds the oil into sauce.

The olives go in at the end, just long enough to warm through. Add them too early and they dominate. Add them late and they punctuate the dish without taking it over.

This is an oil-based pasta emulsion. Heat, timing, and agitation matter more than ingredients.

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Ingredients

Short, deliberate, and doing real work.

Pasta
Spaghetti or spaghettoni

Fat & Aromatics
Extra-virgin olive oil
Garlic, thinly sliced
Dried chili flakes

Salinity & Finish
Green olives, pitted and lightly crushed
Parsley (optional)
Fine salt

No cheese. No lemon. No filler.

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How It Comes Together

Cook the pasta in well-salted water until just shy of al dente. While it cooks, gently warm olive oil with sliced garlic and chili over low heat until fragrant.

Transfer the pasta directly into the pan with a splash of pasta water. Toss vigorously to form a loose, glossy emulsion. Add the olives and continue tossing, adjusting with more pasta water as needed.

The sauce should cling lightly to the noodles. The garlic should be sweet. The olives should sharpen, not overwhelm.

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What Can Go Wrong

• Bitter garlic → Heat was too high
• Greasy pasta → No emulsion formed; not enough pasta water
• Overly salty dish → Olives added too early or water over-salted

Aglio e olio doesn’t forgive guessing.

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Variations & Regional Notes

Some Roman cooks add breadcrumbs for texture. Others add anchovy to deepen the oil before the garlic goes in. Olives fall into the same category—common, practical, and acceptable when used with care.

Change the dish deliberately, or don’t change it at all.

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Serving & Pairing

Serve immediately, while the emulsion is intact. This is a first course meant to wake up the palate, not fill it.

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Wine Pairing

Aglio e olio is driven by olive oil, garlic, chili, and salinity. The wine needs acidity and restraint, not weight.

A chilled Frascati is the natural Roman choice—clean, dry, and unobtrusive, letting the oil and garlic stay in focus.
Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi works especially well with the addition of green olives, its mineral edge handling salinity without turning sharp.
A dry Soave is also a comfortable fit.

Avoid red wine. Garlic, chili, and olive oil leave no room for tannin.

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Equipment

• Large pot – for boiling pasta in well-salted water
• Wide sauté pan – to gently infuse oil and build the emulsion
• Tongs or pasta spider – for transferring pasta directly from water to pan

If you need more tools than this, the technique is off.

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Storage & Make-Ahead

This dish is meant to be eaten immediately. Leftovers lose their structure and gloss. If reheating is unavoidable, add a small splash of water and warm gently, knowing it won’t be the same dish.