Chilli spaghetti with garlic, olive oil & Italian parsley

(Spaghetti al peperoncino con aglio, olio e prezzemolo)

Serves 6

This is another simple, classic and super-quick dish that I never get tired of. We serve it in Caffè Pendolino, where we also make the dried chilli pasta in-house. This recipe is different from the traditional version, which calls for regular dried pasta and the addition of fresh or dried chilli, but both ways are great. The recipe below is a good guide, but you can use your own discretion with the quantity of the ingredients.

600 g (1 lb 5 oz) good-quality dried chilli spaghetti

150 ml (5 fl oz) extra virgin olive oil (see Note)

1 small garlic clove, thinly sliced

1 medium-heat long red chilli, sliced (optional)

2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf (Italian) parsley

fine sea salt, to taste

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

freshly grated pecorino cheese, to serve

Cook the pasta in abundant salted boiling water until al dente and drain. As you are draining the pasta, heat half of the extra virgin olive oil in a saucepan over medium–high heat. Just before it begins to smoke, quickly add the garlic and chilli, if using, and stir a couple of times with a wooden spoon before removing the pan from the heat, taking care not to burn either the garlic or the chilli. Add the pasta to the garlic, chilli and oil and then stir in the parsley. Season with the salt and black pepper and serve the pasta immediately with lots of freshly grated pecorino cheese and the remaining extra virgin olive oil.

NOTE: You can add a little of the pasta’s cooking water to the sauce to reduce the quantity of oil required.