This was originally found on one of the Cook’s Country “30 minute supper” recipe cards. I’ve made it quite a bit and have made some adjustments. It is a pretty easy weeknight meal and is surprisingly tasty. Note: It’s very heavy on the garlic, so make sure you like garlic before making this one.

• 2 slices of white sandwich bread (if you have good bread, use that)
• 4 T olive oil (the better stuff)
• 6 cloves of garlic minced/pressed
• 3/4 t red pepper flakes
• salt
• 1 pound of spaghetti (you can reduce if making for 2)
• About 1/2 cup grated parmesan (if you have the good stuff, use it)
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley (not critical; you could use a tablespoon of dried)

1. Bring salted water to a boil in large pot (for spaghetti). Meanwhile…
2. Rip the bread apart and put it in a food processor. Process with a steel blade until ground. This usually takes me a couple of 5 second pulses. Note: If you don’t have a food processor, you can use pre-made breadcrumbs, but they won’t be quite so good.
3. Put 2 T of olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat until oil is shimmering.
4. Add bread crumbs to hot oil and stir around. Some of the crumbs will glob up with the oil. Just use your wooden spoon to break everything apart. Stir occasionally, breaking up bigger chunks, until the crumbs start getting a nice golden color. This will take about 5 minutes. Don’t burn them! Make sure then are crispy.
5. Once the crumbs are golden brown and have a nice toasted smell, add half of your minced garlic (3 cloves) and 1/4 t of red pepper flakes to the pan. Cook over med-low heat for about a minute, or until you can smell the garlic. You’ll probably need to break up the garlic a bit with your wooden spoon. Take off heat immediately, transfer to bowl, and add a dash of salt. Be careful not to overcook the garlic at this stage or it might get brown and bitter.
6. Wipe out the skillet and add 4 T olive oil, the rest of the garlic (3 cloves) and remaining 1/2 t red pepper flakes. Cook over med-low heat until garlic is golden. This will take between 2-4 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.
7. Add spaghetti to boiling water and cook until al dente (around 8 minutes). When done, reserve about 1/4 cup of the hot pasta water, then drain pasta and return it to the pot.
8. At this point the drained pasta should be back in the pot. Add the reserved water and stir in the oil mixture and the parsley. The original recipe says add the Parmesan too, but I find it clumps up too much at this stage. Give it a try if you like. Season with a little salt. Stir around until everything is combined.
9. Serve pasta with bread crumbs and Parmesan sprinkled on top.  

Once you get the hang of it, it’s a really quick recipe that will have dinner on the table in about a half hour. You can even make a bigger batch of garlic breadcrumbs before hand and store them in a sealed container. Just make sure to heat them up (maybe in a toaster oven) beforehand–you don’t want then soggy.

One thing I found was that my garlic often turns a weird green/blue color when added to the olive oil coated breadcrumbs. Garlic sometimes does this when cooked with an acid. A compound in the garlic breaks down, reacts with amino acids, and produces the color. The good news is that it does not affect the flavor, so you are safe to proceed.