Simple doesn’t have to mean boring or plain. This midnight pasta is only 5 ingredients, and takes around 10 minutes to make, but it is so delicious. My mom introduced me to this recipe; apparently a lot of chefs make this when they get home from the restaurant late at night and need to whip up something quick for dinner. Well, I think we could all learn a thing or two from them.
This recipe saved my life in college a few times when I finally finished writing a paper at 12:30 am and realized I should probably make myself dinner, but all I had in my pantry was noodles (yeah, I guess I was supposed to go grocery shopping today, huh). But this recipe never feels like a sad college student meal.
Tonight I used whole wheat spaghetti (that’s healthy right?) and served it with my favorite side salad: arugula in a lemon vinaigrette topped with parmesan cheese. For this recipe, the parmesan really shines through, so if you feel like being a little extra, go ahead and splurge on that good parmesan cheese at the store. I used the parmesan romano blend from trader joe’s and it was great.
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a large pot, fill halfway with water and place on high heat until boiling. Add a generous sprinkle or two of salt to the water. Once water is boiling, add pasta and cook for the recommended time on the bag / box (around 10 minutes for whole wheat spaghetti).
- When the pasta has about 2 minutes left to cook, add olive oil to a deep skillet and heat on medium. Add garlic cloves and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add red pepper flakes and cook an additional 1 minute.
- Drain pasta from water, reserving 1/2 cup of pasta water. Add pasta to oil and toss to combine. If pasta seems a little dry, add a splash or two of pasta water. Add as much parmesan cheese as you'd like. Enjoy!
