Greim Gasta - Spaghettini

Articles21/09/2011

Spaghettini con aglio, olio e peperoncino - Spaghettini with Garlic, Oil & Chilli

Although enjoying this simplest and cheapest of Italian parsley courses for many years, I discovered an improvement on the recipe I have always used when in Tuscany recently.
I prefer spaghettini (thinner than spaghetti) for this recipe. Choose the best brand you can afford, avoid generic supermarket el cheapo brands. Urghh.

Ingredients

Spaghettini
1 chilli seeded and chopped.
Salt, black pepper.
1 head of garlic
1 bunch parsley
Milk

Method

The difference in this recipe is that instead of the crushed, chopped and fried garlic that I used to use, this one uses whole garlic (known as soft or sweet garlic) softened on the pan and providing an incredible oomph to the whole caboodle.
Place the spaghettini in boiling water and cook for 3-4 minutes. Being thinner than spaghetti it cooks quite quickly.
Scald the sweet garlic in hot milk, remove the skin and place in frying pan with olive oil. Fry lightly. Remove the garlic from the pan & add some red chilli. Turn up the heat.
Roughly chop the parsley
Drain the pasta but leave a little bit of the cooking water in the pot. This is the Italian trick that makes sure that the pasta remains piping hot but also imparts an indefinable something to all their sauces.
Put the garlic back in the pan with the chilli & add some more olive oil. Using tongs, transfer the pasta to the pan with the chilli, olive oil and garlic. Sprinkle with a little chopped parsley, add a few tablespoons of the water in which the pasta was cooked, adjust the seasoning and then transfer to hot plates.
It’s quick, it’s utterly delicious and it looks great. Note too the complete absence of parmesan cheese. This is not to keep costs down (as it irrefutably does) but is a question of taste. Italians do not serve parmesan with seafood pasta dishes or with pasta containing chilli.