Spaghetti with garlic, oil and chilli (Spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino) is a very simple, exquisite and traditional Italian dish. In fact, with “garlic and olive oil” is indicated an extremely simple seasoning to flavor pasta, generally long, in particular vermicelli, spaghetti or linguine.
The recipe basically sees a poor interpretation of spaghetti with clams, because the basic seasoning is the same. The dish was once also known as “vermicelli alla Borbonica” or even as “vermicelli con le vongole fujute” (vermicelli with the escaped clams), in its white version. It was a tricky way to say that you are cooking spaghetti as if they were with clams but they are “escaped”, that’s because you have no money to buy them. But you will still have the same seasoning.
What’s the secret to a perfect success of Spaghetti with garlic, oil and chilli? The choice of ingredients first and foremost, especially with regard to extra virgin olive oil. Then the cooking technique, which involves frying garlic and chilli, being very careful not to burn them so as not to compromise the final taste. There are those who prefer dry chilli, those who remove seeds to reduce their spiciness, those who insert whole garlic to remove them easily or those who chop them even because they have no problems enjoying it.
This recipe has only three ingredients for seasoning, it is an “honest” dish that returns exactly what you will give it. For this reason we recommend using a high quality extra virgin olive oil.
Start preparing the garlic, oil and chilli spaghetti by boiling plenty of salted water in a large saucepan.
Cut the two cloves of garlic in half, remove the core from them and chop them very finely. Then take the red chilli and cut it into fine slices.
Heat 4 tablespoons of oil in a pan, add the chopped garlic and fry it for a few minutes, being very careful not to burn it.
Add the chilli and fry it for a few seconds, turn off the flame. Cook the spaghetti in plenty of salted water and drain al dente.
Transfer them to the pan with the garlic and the chilli pepper and sauté them over a high heat to distribute the sauce well and let them season.
You can add a cascade of chopped parsley only to the last.
We recommend eating hot garlic and chilli spaghetti as soon as they are hot!
For those who do not like strong spicy notes, you can remove the seeds from fresh or dried chilli before using it in the recipe. Garlic can also be left whole to remove it more easily.
In Italy, this is the dish par excellence for students, who come home hungry after a night at the disco and quickly prepare a dish of spaghetti with garlic, oil and chilli, to eat with roommates!
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