Garlic Tomato Spaghetti with Parmesan
Spaghetti tossed in a garlicky tomato sauce emulsified with starchy pasta water, finished with grated Parmesan. A simple, satisfying one-pot dinner.
- Total
- 25 min
- Prep 5 · Cook 20
- Serves
- 1
- Difficulty
- Easy
You'll practice: Sweating · Emulsifying
- Savory
- Stovetop
- Oven
Instructions
-
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add 1 tsp salt. While the water heats, finely chop the onion and thinly slice the garlic. Grate the Parmesan.
~5 min
Salting the water seasons the pasta from within as it absorbs liquid, so the final dish tastes seasoned throughout.
-
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Do not let the garlic brown.
~6 min
Cooking onion first softens its harsh sulfur compounds; adding garlic later prevents it from burning and turning bitter.
Let the garlic sizzle only until it smells sweet, then add the tomatoes right away. Burnt garlic turns the whole sauce bitter.
Sweating Cook onion over medium heat until soft and translucent without browning. Watch for a gentle sizzle, not a hard sear, to avoid color.
-
Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes. Reserve 120 ml of the starchy pasta water, then drain the pasta.
~8 min
Starchy pasta water contains released starch that helps emulsify the sauce so it clings to the spaghetti.
Reserve more pasta water than you think you need: the starch is what makes the sauce cling to the spaghetti instead of pooling at the bottom of the pan.
-
While step 3 cooks
While the pasta cooks, add the tomatoes to the skillet with the onion and garlic. Cook over medium heat, breaking them up with the wooden spoon, until they collapse into a sauce, about 6 minutes. Season with black pepper.
~6 min
Breaking down tomatoes over heat releases their juices and pectin, creating a thicker sauce that coats the pasta.
-
Add the drained pasta and 120 ml reserved pasta water to the skillet. Toss over medium heat until the sauce emulsifies and coats the pasta, about 2 minutes.
~2 min
Tossing pasta with sauce and starchy water over heat emulsifies the fat and starch into a creamy coating.
Emulsifying Toss pasta with sauce and starchy water over medium heat until the liquid thickens and clings. If it looks oily, add a splash more water and keep tossing.
-
Remove from heat and stir in the grated Parmesan until melted. Serve immediately.
~1 min
Residual heat melts Parmesan without overheating, which would cause the cheese to clump and separate.