Spaghetti with garlic and chili

Spaghetti with garlic and chili or ‘spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino‘, is a classical Roman dish. You will find it being served in restaurants throughout Rome and it is commonly enjoyed as part of an evening meal.

If you are going to make your sauce for spaghetti with garlic and chilli from scratch using fresh ingredients, we start you off making the sauce first. That takes about 10 minutes so while you are preparing that, you can be boiling the water for the pasta. In this way, this whole dish is on the table in less than 15 minutes!

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Spaghetti with garlic and chili – Serves 4

• 400 g Spaghetti
• 10 g fresh garlic cloves, peeled and and kept whole
• 10 g fresh red chili
• 50 mls extra virgin olive oil
• 5 g fresh parsley, finely chopped
• Salt to taste

1. Cut the fresh chili into small, thin strips. Remove and discard the seeds.
2. Prepare the lightly salted water for the pasta by bringing it to a boil.
3. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a pan over a low to medium heat. Add the chili and garlic which will infuse in the oil over about 3 minutes. Avoid frying and turn down the heat if necessary. When the 3 minutes is up, remove the garlic and discard. This may seem strange, but many Italian dishes do not have garlic visible on the plate. The idea is to have the flavor of the garlic.
4. Cook the pasta according to the instructions and when it is cooked, lift it from the water into the oil which is still cooking. Toss the pasta in the oil until incorporated and add a little of the pasta water as necessary, to form a sauce.
5. Turn off the heat, add the parsley and toss to incorporate before serving immediately.