Spaghetti with Garlic, Breadcrumbs and Fried Egg

This might sound a little weird, but it's delicious - serious, quick comfort food. I came home from work starving and, because James had a migraine, looking at dinner for one, so I tried a riff on a recipe I've been wanting to make for a while. Apparently, this is actually a fairly traditional dish from somewhere in Italy (if I were really cool, I'd research where, but I'm just too tired).

Anyway, this whipped up really quickly - about 20 minutes from start to finish. The portion sizes adjust easily and you can do pretty much everything to taste. This is the basic recipe that serves four, but I quartered it and was super satisfied. 

Just a reassuring note: It might not be totally intuive to put fried eggs over spaghetti, but there's a long and happy Mediterranean tradition of putting fried eggs over starch. I still love putting fried eggs over leftover arroz con pollo because that's how we always ate it when I was a kid. There's just something wonderfully comforting about the way the creamy yolk coats the starch. It's just a warm and cozy taste. The spaghetti with garlic and breadcrumbs is good on its own, but the fried eggs take to a whole 'nother level that I really recommend. 

Ingredients:

- 1 lb. dried spaghetti (shapes are ok too)

- 5 cloves of garlic, minced or passed through a garlic press

- extra -virgin olive oil

- 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

-1/4 tsp. salt

- pepper to taste

- dried or fresh parsley (if using fresh, chop fine)

- two eggs

- shredded parmesan cheese

- fresh breadcrumbs

* A note on breadcrumbs: If you don't have fresh lying around, I would skip them altogether rather than use the canister stuff in this case. Fresh breadcrumbs are super easy to make. Just get some good bread, rip it up and put it into a food processor with some salt, pepper and olive oil. Process until the bread becomes roughly crumby. Spread the crumbs onto a baking sheet and toast the in an oven at 35o degrees until they are golden and toasty. Let them cool and then store them in the fridge or freezer. I usually make a whole bunch and use them over the course of a few months. Just be careful while they're in the oven - they go from toasty to burned really quickly.)

Process:

1. Bring water and 1 tsp. salt to boil in a nice sized pot. Put in the spaghetti and cook until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water. Then drain the pasta and put it back into the pot, with a sprinkle of olive oil so it doesn't stick to itself.

2. Heat about 3 tbs. of olive oil in a non-stick skillet until it shimmers. Put the garlic, 1/4 tsp. salt, parsley (if using dried) and red pepper flakes into the skillet and cook on low until the garlic is golden and sort of sticky. You'll know it's done when the garlic starts to foam. 

3. Pour the garlic mixture over the pasta. Toss in some parmesan and the breadcrumbs to taste, mix it up and put the cover over the pot to keep it all warm.

4. Put about 1 tsp. olive into the pan and bring back up to heat. Crack two eggs into the pan and sprinkle salt and pepper to taste over them. Cook on low, covered, until the whites are firm but the yolks are still gooey (this is very important because the yolks become part of the sauce). You should use about two eggs per helping / person.

5. While the eggs are cooking, serve up the spaghetti in bowls. If it's too dry, sprinkle pasta water onto it until it loosens back up. If you're using fresh parsley, sprinkle it on now. If not, don't.

6. When the eggs are done, slide two on top of each helping of pasta. Serve immediately. I like to go "MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" when I break the egg yolks into the pasta, but I leave that up to you.