RECIPE: Marc Matsumoto's Garlic Shichimi Pasta

The trick to a good aglio e olio is to finish cooking the pasta like risotto, adding pasta water a ladleful at a time, stirring until the liquid starts forming a thick starchy emulsion which makes for a marvelously creamy sauce for the pasta. Using the same technique here and substituting fragrant shichimi togarashi in place of pepperoncini, this pasta is delightfully simple yet flavorful. 

Makes 2 servings

Ingredients

• 200g spaghetti
• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large clove garlic (9g), minced
• 1 tsp shichimi togarashi 
• ½ tsp konbu cha
• 7g parsley leaves, minced 

Instructions

1. Bring a pot of well-salted water to a boil (it should be about as salty as soup). 
2. Boil the pasta for 2 minutes less than what the package directions say. 
3. About 2 minutes before the pasta is ready, add the olive oil and garlic to a frying pan and saute until it's fragrant but do not let it brown.
4. When the pasta is done, add the shichimi togarashi and kombucha to the oil and stir to combine. Transfer the pasta from the pot straight to the olive oil mixture using tongs, add a ladleful of pasta water to the frying pan and constantly stir until most of the liquid has been absorbed. 
5. Continue adding pasta water while stirring and boiling the liquid with the pasta. The combination of the boiling and stirring will cause the pasta to release starch into the sauce, allowing the pasta water and olive oil to form a creamy emulsion.
6. When the pasta is cooked to your liking and has a thick sauce, stir in the parsley. Serve the pasta garnished with some extra shichimi togarashi to taste.

Recipe courtesy of our friend Marc Matsumoto of No Recipes