Aglio Olio - Basil, Bell Peppers and Beef Bacon

Aglio olio is basically pasta with olive oil and garlic. The magic of this pasta is that it can be transformed to any kind of pasta that you want it to be.... you can add mushrooms, veggies, shrimp and more according to your likes!

Mine I added some chili flakes, I like it with a bit of tang since I am Asian. I threw in a couple of things too - basil, bell peppers and beef bacon to give it some body.

Aglio Olio with Basil, Bell Peppers and Beef Bacon

Ingredients

A fist of  spaghetti

1/4 Cup of Olive oil

2 Cloves of garlic, sliced thinly (if you like more add in more)

Chili flakes

1 Bell pepper, sliced thinly

Beef bacon

Basil

Salt and Pepper

Method:

1. Cook the spaghetti according to the package instruction but not to over cook it. Just about half cooked.

2. Heat a pan and cook the beef bacon till crisp with the olive oil.

3.Next add in the sliced garlic and chili flakes, cook till the garlic slice looks transparent.

4. Once the spaghetti is ready, drain and keep some of the water that the pasta was boiling in.

5. Add in the pasta into the pan full ingredients and add in the water bit by bit.

6. Then add in the bell peppers and season the pasta with salt and pepper.

7. Serve the pasta and garnish it with basil and Parmesan cheese.

Note: 

- Make sure you don't burn the garlic when cooking or you have a bitter taste pasta.

- Adding in the pasta water will help the binding of the pasta with the oil. It will look soupy but trust me it is ok once it's done

- I added in the bell peppers last because I wanted the crunchiness to be retained .