By Megan's last week of school before summer. Before the wedding. She's leaving her classroom for two weeks — the longest she's ever been away. A substitute will finish the last days. Megan cried about this more than she'll admit. She loves those kids. Leaving them, even for her own wedding, feels like abandonment to a woman who takes attendance like it's a sacred act.
The kids made her a card. A giant card, signed by all twenty-four students, with drawings of hearts and flowers and one very creative drawing of what might be a pierogi (the kid, Ayla, asked what a pierogi looked like and drew something that resembles a UFO). Megan brought it home and put it on the fridge next to Sofia's cat and the wedding invitation and the photo of the Hoan Bridge. The fridge is now a timeline of our entire relationship, told in magnets and tape.
One month to the wedding. The to-do list is shrinking. The anxiety is growing. I lie awake at night not because I'm worried about the wedding but because I'm overwhelmed by the fact that this is actually happening. I am marrying Megan O'Brien at St. Josaphat Basilica where Babcia prayed every Sunday. I am serving her food at the Polish Center where I learned to make pierogi. I am surrounded by people who love us. This is real. This is happening. In four weeks.
Made a simple dinner for us — pasta with garlic and olive oil, the aglio e olio that takes ten minutes and four ingredients and somehow feels like enough. Some nights you don't need a feast. Some nights you need simplicity. The wedding will be a feast. Tonight is pasta. Tonight is Megan on the couch grading her last papers of the year. Tonight is quiet and small and ours.
With the to-do list shrinking and the anxiety somehow growing in inverse proportion, I wasn’t looking for a project in the kitchen — I was looking for something that would let me just be in the room with Megan while she graded her last papers of the year. Spaghetti aglio e olio is one of those vegan Italian classics that asks almost nothing of you and gives back everything: it’s ready before the water has a chance to cool, and it fills the apartment with the kind of smell that makes a Tuesday feel intentional. Four weeks out from the biggest day of our lives, this was exactly the right meal for a quiet night that was entirely ours.
Vegan Italian Recipes: Spaghetti Aglio e Olio
Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 20 minutes | Servings: 2
Ingredients
- 8 oz spaghetti
- 1/3 cup good-quality extra-virgin olive oil
- 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or to taste)
- 1/3 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
- Salt, to taste
- 1/2 cup reserved pasta cooking water
- Freshly ground black pepper, to finish
Instructions
- Salt the water generously. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Salt it until it tastes like the sea — this is your only chance to season the pasta itself.
- Cook the spaghetti. Add the spaghetti and cook according to package directions until just al dente, usually 8–10 minutes. Before draining, ladle out about 1/2 cup of the starchy pasta water and set it aside.
- Toast the garlic low and slow. While the pasta cooks, warm the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the sliced garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook gently, stirring occasionally, for 4–5 minutes until the garlic is golden and fragrant but not brown — burnt garlic will make the whole dish bitter.
- Bring it together. Drain the pasta and add it directly to the skillet with the garlic oil. Pour in 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water and toss vigorously over medium heat for 1–2 minutes, until the sauce emulsifies and coats every strand. Add more pasta water a splash at a time if it looks dry.
- Finish and serve. Remove from heat. Add the chopped parsley, toss once more, and taste for salt. Divide between two bowls. Finish with a few cracks of black pepper and an extra drizzle of olive oil if you like. Serve immediately.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 620 | Protein: 14g | Fat: 34g | Carbs: 68g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 290mg