Is it safe to use olive oil that has gone cloudy

According to Harold McGee, using olive oil to fry is basically a waste of money. "After I’d heated them, none of the olive oils had much olive flavor left. In fact, they didn’t taste much different from the seed oils."

According to a Spanish study I have access to, you could use high oleic sunflower oil for frying as it degrades better.

For this dish, you'll probably want to use a low-end extra-light oil (since it's being heated quite a bit), and then drizzle in nicer extra virgin oil to finish the flavor after the pasta has been tossed into the cheese, oil, and spices.

The rule of thumb is to have two kinds of olive oil:

• High-grade, richly flavored extra virgin olive oil (for finishing)
• Extra light, not extra-virgin olive oil for use as a cooking oil. You can use a cheaper oil for this -- many people choose to use a later pressing, crudo or "pure olive oil" (in the US) kind.

The high-end oil is for adding it to sauces and drizzling on mostly-finished dishes to add that rich flavor. You're looking for something with a lot of taste, and it's a good idea to get small amounts of pricier oil. Getting small bottles means you'll be using fresher, more flavorful oil because it hasn't been open for long. Plus, you won't need much to finish dishes. Note that for this use, you want to add the oil near the end of cooking, as heat will alter and weaken the flavor.

The low-end light olive oil should be of neutral or light flavor, and will be more tolerant of heating than extra-virgin. Because it has a much higher smoke point than extra-virgin grade oil, use this in recipes calling for heating up olive oil. If necessary for flavor, add some of the good stuff near the end of cooking.