Spaghetti Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino

This is still one of our all time favourite pastas. Garlic, olive oil and chilli spaghetti - it sounds simple but it tastes amazing. As this is such a simple pasta to make, you need to make sure you have good quality ingredients such as a good quality olive oil and good quality spaghetti. You also need to make sure you follow the cooking method closely to get the best flavour out of this simple but yet incredibly delicious pasta! 

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For this recipe we like to sprinkle some homemade pangrattato on our pasta. This is optional but if you want to make it, make sure you prepare it before cooking the pasta and the sauce. If not, you can skip straight to the pasta making.

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients
For the Pangrattato

• 2/3 slices of stale bread (crust removed) 
• 2 garlic cloves 
• A few sprigs of parsley 
• 1 tbsp of grated Parmesan cheese 
• 1 small shallot or half of a big shallot
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Good quality extra virgin olive oil 

For the Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino

• 300g of good quality spaghetti
• 2 fresh long red chillies (you can even use whole dry chillies for a deep smoky flavour) 
• 3-4 large garlic cloves
• 1 small bunch of fresh parsley
• A good quality extra virgin olive oil 

Method

1. Start by blitzing or very finely chopping the bread. Toast it in a frying pan on a medium heat with no oil. You want to remove all of the moisture from the breadcrumbs so that they will get extra crispy. Make sure you don't have any big pieces of breadcrumb as otherwise they will not go crispy. Keep an eye on this and stir continuously so it doesn't burn and it becomes nice and crispy. 
2. While the bread is toasting finely chop the onion, garlic and parsley. 
3. Add the onion to the pan and cook until the breadcrumbs are nice and crispy. 
4. Now add the garlic, parsley, a pinch of ground black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.
5. Bring to a medium high heat and fry until the pangrattato gets nice and golden brown. Keep stirring. 
6. Finally add the Parmesan and stir it in. 
7. Spread and cool down the breadcrumbs on a flat plate so they get even more crispy. Taste and season to perfection.  
8. Bring a large pot of water to the boil ready to cook the pasta. 
9. Meanwhile, in a saucepan or in a large frying pan, add about 5 tbsp of olive oil. Lightly crush the garlic and add it to the pan with the skin on to prevent the garlic from burning. Cook the garlic on a low heat until it turns nice and golden. You want the olive oil to absorb all the flavour from the garlic. 
10. While the garlic is cooking, chop the parsley and the fresh chilli very finely (remove the seeds from the chilli if you aren't a fan of spice). If using dry chilli, keep it whole and add it to the pan with the garlic to infuse into the oil.
11. Now add salt to the boiling water and start cooking the spaghetti. 
12. Once the garlic is nice and golden, add the chilli to the pan and fry for 2-3 minutes, always making sure the pan is on a low temperature. 
13. At this point, very carefully add a ladle of pasta water to the pan with the chilli and garlic and quickly close with a lid. Be very careful as when the hot water touches the hot oil it will spit everywhere! This can sound wrong as adding water to hot oil isn't ideal, but it will make a very tasty sauce because of the starch in the pasta water. Take extra care with this step. 
14. When the spaghetti is still a little firm but almost fully cooked, transfer it with a pair of tongs, from the water to the pan with the chilli and garlic oil sauce. Bring the the temperature to a medium high heat, add a sprinkle of the chopped parsley and another ladle of the starchy water. 
15. Keep cooking the pasta and sauce together on a medium high heat, stir constantly and keep adding a little bit at the time the starchy water until the pasta is fully cooked.  
16. Once the pasta is perfectly cooked (always best to try it) and there isn't any more liquid in the pan, turn the heat off, remove the garlic cloves and add a tbsp of olive oil. Stir well and serve with a sprinkle of parsley on top and pangrattato (optional). 

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