Spaghetti with Olives and Garlic

Always a crowd pleaser, this quick meal is a delighter of palates. The Manzanillo olives are complex in flavour, their saltiness acting as a foil to the sweet onion, luscious olive oil, nutty dukkah, almonds and fresh basil. Good food guaranteed to nourish and delight!

Photographs and recipe by Michelle Ranson of perthfoodphotography.com & @localgoodnesswa

Spaghetti with Olives and Garlic 

 Prep time 15 min    I Cooking time 15 min  I Serves 2 

 Ingredients 

200g dry spaghetti 

80ml Arthur’s Grove Extra Virgin Olive Oil 

1 tbsp butter 

80g red onion, finely chopped 

4 large cloves garlic, finely chopped 

140g Arthur’s Grove Manzanillo Olives, pitted and roughly chopped 

salt and pepper 

½ tsp dried chilli flakes 

½ medium fresh lemon, juice  

25g fresh basil, finely chopped (extra leaves for garnish) 

¼ cup pasta water 

1 flat tsp lemon zest 

40g parmesan cheese, finely grated 

*Optional: roasted almonds, roughly chopped 

Method  

Bring a large pot of water to the boil then cook the spaghetti until tender. In a large nonstick frying pan gently sauté onion and garlic in olive oil and butter until the onions are cooked. Add the olives, salt, pepper, chilli flakes, lemon juice and basil then stir together and simmer for a couple of minutes. Once the pasta is ready, scoop out some starchy pasta water and add it to the frying pan before draining the pasta. Add the pasta, lemon zest and most of cheese to the frying pan and simmer for a couple of minutes. Plate up the pasta then top with the rest of the cheese and almonds. Garnish with basil leaves and season with salt and pepper.  

Tip: Use the flat side of a wide knife to squash whole olives so the pits squeeze out.