Midnight Pasta with Roasted Garlic, Olive Oil and Chile

I love that the story behind this recipe is that its pasta you can easily make in the middle of the night with just a few pantry staples.  With a teenaged boy in the house, he makes a fifth meal every night at 11:30pm or 12am.  This is another option for him, and for the family.
 
This recipe from New York Times Cooking does seem a little bit more complicated since it requires roasting the garlic ahead of time.  For me, I put the garlic in the oven while I worked out, and then made dinner an hour later and it was perfect. You can always make a lot of roasted garlic at once and save it for up to 2 weeks in the fridge or 2 months in the freezer.  Then it truly can be a Midnight Pasta.
 
For the record – this was also a hit.  I served some non-chile pasta to my 11 year old, but the rest of us enjoyed the spicy recipe as is. Yum!
 
Midnight Pasta with Roasted Garlic, Olive Oil and Chile

INGREDIENTS:
 
·                1 large head of garlic
·                 Kosher salt
·                ½ cup plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
·                1 cup firmly packed parsley leaves
·                1 pound spaghetti or other long pasta
·                ½ teaspoon red-pepper flakes, plus more for garnish
·                 Black pepper
·                 Freshly grated Parmesan, for serving
 
 
PREPARATION:
 
Step 1:

• Heat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Cut off the top 1/4 inch of the head of garlic to expose the top of the cloves, then place on a piece of foil, cut-side up. 
• Sprinkle exposed cloves with salt, then drizzle with 1 teaspoon oil.
• Wrap the garlic in the foil and roast until soft and golden brown, 40 to 50 minutes.

 
Step 2:

• When you’re ready to make the pasta, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Finely chop the parsley leaves.
• Add pasta to the boiling water and cook according to package instructions until al dente.
• Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water, then drain the pasta.

 
Step 3:

• While the pasta cooks, in a large Dutch oven or skillet, heat the remaining 1/2 cup oil over medium heat. 
• Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves into the oil and cook, breaking them up with your spoon, until very fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes.
• Add the red-pepper flakes and a few generous grinds of pepper.
• Remove the pan from the heat to infuse the oil while the pasta finishes cooking.

 
Step 4:

• When the pasta’s done, heat the garlic oil over medium, then add the cooked pasta, 1/2 cup reserved pasta water and the parsley, and simmer, tossing constantly and adding more pasta water as needed, until the pasta is glossed with sauce.

 
Step 5:

• Serve with more red-pepper flakes, black pepper and Parmesan.

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