PASTA WITH CONFIT GARLIC, GOAT’S CHEESE AND THYME
(Serves 2)
INGREDIENTS:
2 small garlic bulbs (yes, that’s correct, 1 per person); 100ml good olive oil; leaves from 4 thyme sprigs; 200g spaghetti or linguine; 200g soft goat’s cheese (logs are good)
To serve: Lettuce leaves; good vinegar; sea salt
METHOD:
1. I haven’t yet found a garlic peeling hack that works. What I do is separate the cloves, then attempt to lightly bash on each with the heel of my hand and cut off the dry root end. The skins then slip off quite easily.
2. Put the oil into a small saucepan or frying pan, heat it gently and spoon in the garlic. The cloves should be submerged in oil and cook very gently over the lowest heat possible.
3. The garlic has to soften, mellow and colour only ever so slightly, which should take about 20 minutes, but use your judgement. When ready, the garlic will smell very sweet and the cloves can be easily pierced with a knife. Take it off the heat and add the thyme.
4. Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. Put the goat’s cheese into a food processor. When there are three minutes to go before the pasta is done, ladle 200ml of the pasta water into a measuring jug. Blitz the goat’s cheese with half of the measured pasta water and 2-3tbsps of the garlic oil. You will have a smooth and rather liquid sauce, but do not worry, it will all be good. (If it is not quite liquid, I find the pasta eats too dry.)
5. Drain the pasta and put it back into the pan in which it was cooking. Pour the sauce over the pasta and, using tongs, pick the pasta up and down, making sure to cover the pasta in the sauce. Keep agitating it like this for a minute.
6. At this point I take a mouthful and check if it slips down smoothly. If it feels a bit dry rather than slippery, I add another splash of pasta water and swirl it around with tongs.
7. Put the pasta into serving plates and pour over any goat’s cheese sauce that remained behind in the pan.
Serve with the confit garlic cloves scattered over the top and a drizzle of the garlic oil. 8. When you finish the pasta, pile the lettuce leaves directly into the pasta plate and add a little vinegar and salt. The remainder of the goat’s cheese sauce is so good with the leaves.