Spicy wild garlic spaghetti with parm and egg yolk

This pasta came into existence after a nice evening stroll through a park in the neighborhood. While walking we noticed a strange smell in the park, it smelled, uhm, onion-y? True to his boy-scout nature Anton dropped on hands and knees and concluded that the park was actually full of wild garlic! I loudly resisted the idea of eating something that was picked in a park in Amsterdam (everyone who’s ever been here will understand that), but my green-minded partner insisted. So from a spot that could be loosely classified as “dog-pee-safe” we picked our dinner. What resulted was an absolutely delicious pasta that is kinda like an aglio, olio e peperoncino (one of my all-time favz), but more creamy thanks to the addition of an egg yolk.

If you can’t find wild garlic because you don't have a boyfriend who has been raised by Swedish forest fairies, you can absolutely replace it with normal garlic cloves and add some scallions to reproduce that onion-y vibe that wild garlic has.

Ingredients #

Ingredients for 2:

• 200gr spaghetti
• A big handful of wild garlic (alternatively if you can’t find this, I’d suggest using 2 scallions + 3 garlic cloves, which will be delicious too)
• A teaspoon of chile flakes
• Olive oil
• 60gr Parmigiano Reggiano (though really more is more here)
• 2 egg yolks
• Salt
• Black pepper

Method #

1. Bring a large pot with heavily salted water to a boil and cook the spaghetti al dente, according to package instructions.

2. In a skillet, or your favorite pasta-sauce-making-pan add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and a teaspoon of chili flakes. Fry the chili flakes for a minute or two to infuse the oil, and then turn off the heat again.

3. If you’re using scallions and normal garlic instead of wild garlic, chop your scallions finely and fry them together with the chili flakes until they’re getting a nice char and are softening up. Once the scallions are fried, kill the heat and add 3 finely minced garlic cloves. The garlic will fry gently in the remaining heat while your pasta cooks.

4. If you’re using wild garlic skip the step above, and wait for your pasta to finish cooking. Once the pasta is done, add it into the skillet with spicy olive oil together with the wild garlic leaves.

5. Grate the parmesan over the pasta, and toss everything together with a few splashes of pasta water to create a shiny emulsified sauce. Season with a generous pinch of salt and a few grinds of black pepper.

6. Plate the pasta, and make a little dent, or nest for the egg yolk. Gently place it in, crack some extra black pepper over it and serve immediately!

Super simple, SUPER delicious, and absolutely worth a try. Legal disclaimer: eating green stuff from a park that smells like onion is entirely at your own risk.