This is one of my favourite dishes. It’s one of the first things you can teach your children to cook – if they are adventurous with strong flavours – and it will stand them in good stead for the rest of their lives, when money is short or cooking for a gang at university or after a late night.
My wife, Plaxy, cooks this for us when we arrive in Puglia on the silly o’clock flight, having been up since 3am. A cold crisp white wine, a bowl of green salad and a plate of aglio olio e peperoncino before a siesta, and all is well with the world.
The spaghetti should be made with Italian grains because the roughness of the surface will catch the oil better. Parmigiano reggiano or grana padano are the two cheeses that work best in this dish (I would recommend a cheese aged for 16-24 months). Always buy cheese in pieces, never buy pre-grated. You can use a variety of chilli, even dried. Some people like the chilli hotter, Plaxy only eats it with habanero – it is really down to your own taste.
Serves 4
spaghetti 500g
chilli 1
garlic 4 cloves
extra virgin olive oil 200ml
parmigiano reggiano or grana padano for serving, grated
Start cooking the spaghetti in plenty of boiling salted water, and slice your chilli (around a tablespoonful, or more if you prefer) and the cloves of garlic about a millimetre thick.
Place a little of the olive oil, cold, in the pan. Put in your garlic, then keep taking the pan off the heat and adding a little more cold oil, then returning it to the heat so that you don’t burn the garlic.
Once all the oil is in, you can let the garlic begin to take on a little bit of colour and put in your chopped chilli. Let it cook very briefly, stirring it into the garlic, then pull the pan from the heat and stir in a couple of spoonfuls of the cooking water from the pasta – take care, as it may spit.
When the pasta is cooked but still al dente, lift it out and drain it, but keep back the cooking water.
Toss the pasta really well through the oil, garlic and chilli, adding a little more cooking water from the pasta if it is too dry, as you want the garlicky hot oil to really cling to the spaghetti, and serve straightaway.
Finish with some grated parmesan or grana padano.
Adapted from Made at Home by Giorgio Locatelli (4th Estate, £26). To order a copy for £22.88, go to guardianbookshop.com
