Whole Grain Spaghetti Aglio e Olio

I was first introduced to Aglio e Olio by Rainbows. Aglio means garlic and Olio means oil in Italian and she said this is one easy pasta to prepare. Indeed she was right, and any easy recipe I wanted to try. And I was introduced to whole grain pasta by watching Racheal Ray. Anything whole wheat and whole grain is to my liking because it speaks an healthier choice. So, I purposely searched out whole grain pasta to try, if it's good then next time I will just stick to whole grain pasta, unless the other one is on-sales for a price that I couldn't refuse. I bought some beautiful grape tomatoes the other day and I thought why not I just added some to it. Since I was not used to eating plain pasta, I took out some sea scallops and cut it into half.

Verdict: I really like the whole grain pasta. It was not hard like what I have read. It's as al dente as the white pasta. And it makes me feel healthier by eating it. As for the aglio e olio, I found it kind of plain, needed an extra dose of salt to bring out the flavor. Being a true Asian, I even added some sesame oil! :P Here's my version:

Ingredients:

1 small box of whole grain spaghetti

8 sea scallops, half and seasoned with lemon pepper seasoning

Extra-virgin olive oil

Lots of chopped garlic (~5 cloves)

1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 cup grape tomatoes, half

Salt and black pepper to taste

Korean Sesame oil

Method:

1. Cooked spaghetti per package instruction. Drain and set aside.

2. Heat a saute pan with some EVOO and pan-fry the scallops until cooked. Dish out and set aside.

3. Heat EVOO and add in garlic. Fry until golden and add in the crushed red pepper and grape tomatoes. Mixed well and turned off the heat. Add in the spaghetti & scallops (along with the juice). Season to taste with salt, black pepper and a drizzle of sesame oil.

I submitting this post to Presto Pasta Nights for this week.