Goomba38 wrote:
> Christopher Helms wrote:
>
> > We had it a lot growing up. The secret to a good one lies in properly
> > using good ingredients more than anything else. We always just called
> > it Pasta & Oil. Sometimes red pepper flakes find their way into it, but
> > I didn't realize there were so many variations. We always made it by
> > copying the way great-grandma made it, which was to slowly cook a *lot*
> > of finely chopped garlic (maybe half a dozen large cloves) in enough
> > olive oil to liberally coat all the pieces but not enough to float
> > them. She would cook it until the garlic was done but before it turned
> > brown. Then she would toss about three quarters of a cup of warm tap
> > water into the pan after turning off the heat.
>
>
> Whereas my folks would cook whole cloves are garlic until lightly
> browned and the oil well flavored, but then take the cloves out. Red
> pepper flakes were added, but no water as your folks used. Cheese added
> at serving if desired.

I have yet to find anyone else who added water to it. That was one of
grammas odd culinary ticks, I guess. She had a few others, too. Like
throwing a little bit of dried basil into a pot of simmering tomato
sauce whenever she would walk by it. There's an old myth that basil was
growing at the foot of the cross during the crucifixion. She was deeply
religious and I think that had something to do with it. Like some
people unconsciously reciting a prayer whenever an ambulance goes by.
Food, God, Christ, poverty and prayer were all sort of massed together
inside her tiny 5ft. 2 inch frame and sometimes it was difficult to
tell where one ended and another began.