Linguine with Fried Eggs and Garlic

Finals week. The Cody piece is now in production at Sewanee Review — copy edits returned, galley proofs in two weeks, publication in the July summer issue. The summer plan is locked: drive to Sapulpa with Dustin in late May, both of us at Mama’s through late June, then Dustin to Memphis for the rest of the summer. Dustin and I are talking about wedding timing in pieces — not all in one conversation, but in small ten-minute chunks across the week, deciding parameter by parameter. We’ve agreed: next year, sometime in mid-junior-year, around the end of fall semester or the beginning of spring. Courthouse, not a big wedding. Both families flown in for a small day. Dinner afterward at a Nashville restaurant. Nothing else is decided.

Sunday I made linguine with fried eggs and garlic because the apartment’s pantry was running thin in the way pantries always run thin in the last week before a long break, and the meal needed to come from what was actually in the cabinet rather than from a grocery run. The dish is one of those Italian peasant recipes that lives in nonna cookbooks for exactly this kind of moment: pasta plus runny fried egg plus garlic-infused olive oil. Three ingredients. Twelve minutes. The dish reads as deliberate even when it’s improvised.

The technique: cook a pound of linguine al dente in heavily salted water. While the pasta cooks, gently warm a quarter-cup of good olive oil in a wide skillet over medium-low heat with six cloves of garlic sliced thin. Cook the garlic in the oil for five full minutes until just-golden but not browned (browned garlic goes bitter; just-golden is sweet and nutty). The garlic infuses the oil with its flavor. A pinch of red-pepper flakes added at the end of the garlic infusion.

Reserve the garlic-infused oil. In a separate small skillet, fry two large eggs per person in a tablespoon of butter over medium heat with the yolks left runny. The yolks are the sauce.

Drain the pasta, reserving a half-cup of pasta water. Toss the pasta with the garlic-infused oil and the cooked garlic slices, plus a couple tablespoons of pasta water for the gloss. Plate the pasta in shallow bowls and top each bowl with two fried eggs, sliced into the pasta with a knife so the runny yolks coat the noodles. A generous handful of grated parmesan, salt, pepper, fresh chopped parsley.

The yolks-as-sauce is the architectural premise. Each bite carries the silky yolk-coated pasta with the savory garlic-infused oil and the slight crunch of just-golden garlic slices. The dish reads sophisticated. It cost about three dollars per serving.

Garlic-infused oil, runny eggs as the sauce. Twelve minutes. Three ingredients. Here’s the build.

Prep Time: 5 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 20 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

12 oz linguine
4 large eggs
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (or 1 tablespoon dried)
Salt and black pepper, to taste

Instructions

Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook linguine according to package directions until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water before draining.
Toast the garlic. While pasta cooks, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add sliced garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring frequently, for 2–3 minutes until garlic is golden and fragrant. Remove garlic with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving the oil in the pan.
Fry the eggs. Crack eggs into the same skillet over medium heat. Cook until whites are set but yolks are still runny, about 3–4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.
Toss the pasta. Add drained linguine to the skillet with the garlic oil. Toss to coat, adding reserved pasta water a splash at a time to loosen the sauce as needed.
Assemble and serve. Divide pasta among bowls. Top each portion with a fried egg and the toasted garlic chips. Sprinkle with Parmesan and parsley. Serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Linguine with Fried Eggs and Garlic