Aglio e Olio | Cannabis Speakeasy

Aglio e Olio

Yield: 6 Servings | Cook time: 30 minutes | Total time: 1.25 Hours

Household ingredients needed:

The Pasta - (if fresh)

1.5 cups of semolina flour
Two eggs
Two tablespoons of olive oil
Two tablespoons of water
A generous pinch of salt

Alternatively, use one box of dried Spaghetti

The Sauce -

1/2 Cup of Olive Oil
Three Sweet Red Peppers, thinly sliced
9-12 Cloves of Garlic, minced
One half tablespoon of dried parsley
Two cups of pasta water (reserved while cooking the pasta)

The Good Stuff:

1 gram of myrcene & limonene dominant cannabis live resin
1/2 Cup of Olive Oil

Tools needed for decarboxylation process (linked below to top-selling Amazon products):

It's pasta night. Aglio e Olio is a perfect recipe, Italian for "garlic" and "olive oil," this is a simple dish which allows the ingredients to shine. As such, it pairs well with bold flavored mains such as smoked meats. When preparing this recipe, I served it alongside a smoked chicken coated in a Kansas City style dry rub (the very best of barbecue!)

This dish comes together very quickly, making it an excellent accompaniment to freshly made pasta, which is laborious yet rewarding to make.

Preparing the Infused Olive Oil -

First step

Set the oven to 240 degrees Fahrenheit
In your ceramic ramekin, add one gram of your live resin
Place the ramekin in the oven for 45 minutes, or until it stops bubbling and becomes liquified

Second step

After a nice, low and slow decarboxylation, remove the ramekin from the oven
In a saucepan, add the liquified live resin to 1/2 cup of Olive Oil
Stir frequently until the live resin is well incorporated in the Olive Oil. At first, you'll be able to see the live resin floating within the oil. As the temperature rises, and as you whisk the mixture, it will become fully homogenized

Making Fresh Pasta -

While you wait for your cannabis oil to decarb, it's a great time to get to work on some fresh pasta dough.

First Step

Mix together your semolina flour and salt until the salt is fully incorporated. Place the flour down onto a clean surface.
Forming your hand into a sort of "Vulcan nerve pinch" shape, rotate the the ends of your fingers inside the flour, forming a volcano shape
Add the egg, olive oil and water into the center of the volcano
Using a fork, poke the egg yolks, then whisk the mixture until incorporated
Slowly add in flour from the sides of the volcano and mix it until the mixture becomes too difficult to turn with the fork. Then, knead by hand for about 10 minutes

This is among the wetter pasta recipes I've used, but it works all the better for it. The dough may be a little shaggy when the wet ingredients are first incorporated, but knead away and eventually you'll have a smooth ball of pasta dough.

Wrap the dough in plastic, then let it rest for half an hour
Roll the pasta dough out into quarter inch sheets
Using a pasta machine, roll the sheets on the lowest setting, then the second lowest setting, then finally the middle setting
Use the spaghetti attachment to turn the pasta sheets into spaghetti. Generously sprinkle flour onto the noodles in order to prevent them from sticking.

Third Step -

Boil the fresh pasta for 2-3 minutes
Reserve two cups of pasta water
Drain the pasta

Aglioing the Olio

In a large frying pan, heat 1/2 cup of Olive Oil
Add the thinly sliced red pepper
Once the peppers begin to lightly fry, add the minced garlic and dried parsley.
Cook for 1-2 minutes until the garlic just starts to turn golden
Lower the heat, add the pasta
Add the reserved pasta water, and mix the pasta into the sauce
Cook the pasta into the sauce until it the sauce is emulsified and the noodles are coated

Dosing the Dish -

Add 1/4 teaspoon of the infused olive oil atop the plated pasta

Depending on the potency of the base oil, 1/4 tablespoon should be 5-7mg of THC. Add more or less depending on your tolerance. Adding the oil at the end of the process allows multiple plates to be dosed differently.

The Experience -

Taking a bite of this dish, one's palette is struck by the deep pepper flavor, immediately followed by garlicky wonderment.

The effects, for me, started to hit in about half an hour. I felt a subtle lift, until eventually I felt glowy. It's a little hard to describe, but I felt sort of like a soft noodle splayed about, my spirit glimmering with an oily sheen. The effects continued nicely for a few hours until gently releasing.

I always find that a high fat content in foods leads to a more merciful experience, both in terms of the initial lift and the morning after "weedover" (which, in this case, was absent.) Aglio e Olio is a perfect medium for cannabis because its subtle flavor allows the terpenes in the oil to shine through, and it's fat content assists with both the onset of and ultimate elimination of the intoxicating effects.