snow storm recipe

MARCH 11, 2008, 11:10 AM

Recipe of the Day: Spaghetti With Fried Eggs

By MARK BITTMAN

There are pasta dishes of the desperate cook, the one who has been too busy to shop or too busy to think, or who must put dinner on the table in 20 minutes. I love those kinds of recipes. This is one of them, taught to me a decade ago or so by Arthur Schwartz, who knows as much about Italian food as any native New Yorker has a right to.

Spaghetti With Fried Eggs

Yield 2 or 3 servings

Time 20 minutes

Mark Bittman

Summary

Adapted from Arthur Schwartz.

In this dish, sometimes known as \'\'poor man\'s spaghetti,\'\' you fry a couple of eggs in the olive oil after removing the garlic, which is not browned but \'\'blonded\'\' (\'\'imbiondito\'\'), cooked lightly in good olive oil and then removed from it. Tossed with the pasta, the eggs and oil create a creamy, delicious sauce.

Ingredients

• Salt
• 1/2 pound thin spaghetti
• 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or lard
• 2 large cloves garlic, lightly smashed and peeled
• 4 eggs
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Freshly grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese, optional

Method

• 1. Bring a pot of salted water to the boil. Start the sauce in the next step, and start cooking the pasta when the water boils.
• 2. Combine garlic and 4 tablespoons of the oil in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Cook the garlic, pressing it into the oil occasionally to release its flavor; it should barely color on both sides. Remove the garlic, and add the remaining oil.
• 3. Fry the eggs gently in the oil, until the whites are just about set and the yolks still quite runny. Drain the pasta, and toss with the eggs and oil, breaking up the whites as you do. (The eggs will finish cooking in the heat of the pasta.) Season to taste, and serve immediately, with cheese if you like.

Sourc