Cooking is an art form that is refined through constant practice.

That's why professional chefs operate on a whole different level than amateur home cooks.

But now, you can get the insider tips and trick from a working chef without forking out for a masterclass.

Enter Chef Gero from Kucina Italian, a halal Italian restaurant located in Tanjong Katong.

The Italian-Muslim chef uploaded a clip on to the restaurant TikTok account on Nov 14 in which he revealed his famous aglio olio with whole garlic recipe. 

Leaning towards a Southern Italian style, Chef Gero's aglio olio features cherry tomatoes, dried chilli and anchovies.

Chef Gero's aglio olio with whole garlic recipe 

Start off by crushing a whole garlic and removing the skin.

Add a generous amount of olive oil in a pan and bring your stove up to a very low heat.

Slow-cook the garlic cloves over low heat for about five to eight minutes on each side till they are soft and brown.

When the garlic is ready, slice and add in one whole chili to the pan.

Next, put in about a tablespoon of preserved anchovies.

After that, sprinkle a teaspoon of dried chili in for a little kick before adding in either some vegetable stock or pasta water.

Throw in the cherry tomatoes and up the fire to emulsify the aglio olio sauce in the pan.

Add in the pasta to the pan and toss it continuously to ensure that it soaks up the sauce.

When the pasta is starting to become shiny, add in some chopped Italian parsley.

Continue tossing till the sauce is shiny and then plate the pasta on a serving plate.

For more details, you can refer to the TikTok video below. 

More importantly though, Chef Gero also shared several invaluable tips and tricks he picked up in his years in a professional kitchen.

Avoiding garlic breath

Tackling the pain known as garlic breath, Chef Gero explained that this is commonly caused by consuming raw or half-cooked garlic.

So, the best way to avoid it is to ensure that your garlic is thoroughly cooked in all dishes.

To ensure that your garlic is evenly cooked, Chef Gero recommended cooking your garlic over low heat for a longer time.

This also prevents the garlic from becoming burnt and bitter.

Bigger pan is not always better

Being kiasu Singaporeans, we always tend to think that bigger is always better.

But if you want your ingredients to cook evenly in your pan, you are better off using a smaller pan.

Why you ask?

Chef Gero explained that with a smaller pan, oil tends to be concentrated together rather than spread out over the pan.

As a result, the ingredients would be submerged in the heated oil and cook evenly.

Forget stock, just use pasta water

Now if you are the sort that never has any basic soup stocks hanging around the house, you can breathe easy when it comes to cooking pasta.

Instead of spending hours boiling your own stock, or silly money at the supermarket, Chef Gero stated that you can simply use the remaining pasta water instead to thicken your pasta sauce.

Shiny sauce = Lit pasta

Another common problem when cooking pasta is knowing when it is ready, but that should be a thing of the past thanks to Chef Gero's simple tip.

After adding in your pasta, toss it to make sure that it soaks in the sauce and becomes flavourful.

ALSO READ: These uncommon pasta shapes are totally spag-tacular

Chef Gero said that once you "see the sauce is shining", you know that "this pasta is lit".

timothywee@asiaone.com

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