This is the easiest pasta recipe I know, and one I think everyone should learn how to make properly. Big day at work and need dinner in 15 minutes? This Italian classic Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino is exactly that, they even call it the midnight spaghetti. The recipe is adapted from the original Aglio e Olio which is just pasta, garlic and olive oil - and it's delicious with just those three ingredients. However, I prefer the version with chilli for that extra flavour.

In my variation, I like to add parmesan to the sauce right at the very end for extra flavour and creaminess and then grated some extra over the top to serve. This is optional, the original aglio e olio doesn't use parmesan at all.

Just seven ingredients (one of them is water), and the whole technique is about getting garlic-infused olive oil to emulsify with starchy pasta water and cling to the spaghetti. Get the emulsification right and you’ve got the foundation for every pasta sauce that comes after it.

Garlic, Olive Oil and Chilli Spaghetti Explained

Cooking the pasta

Use a generous amount of water, well salted. Drop the spaghetti in by holding it in two hands above the pot and twisting your hands in opposite directions as you let go. The pasta fans out and slides in evenly without breaking. Don’t snap the spaghetti to fit it in the pot, the bottom softens within seconds and the rest follows it down. Stir every minute or so to keep the strands from sticking. Cook to al dente, which means there’s still a little bite when you taste it. Pull it out 30 seconds before you think it’s done, it’ll keep cooking in the sauce. However, if you prefer your pasta well done, cook it to your liking!

Infusing the oil

Smash the garlic cloves with the flat of your knife and cut them in half. We’re not chopping them, we want them in big enough pieces to infuse the oil without burning. Drop them into the cold olive oil over a low heat. This isn’t frying, it’s infusing. Low and slow until the cloves go pale gold. Once they’re there, the chilli flakes go in for 30 seconds to bloom in the warm oil. Garlic that goes brown will turn the whole sauce bitter.

The emulsification

This is the bit that separates a good aglio e olio from a great one. Add the cooked spaghetti to the pan with a splash of pasta water and start tossing constantly. The starch in the pasta water bonds with the olive oil to create a glossy, silky sauce that coats every strand. If it’s looking oily and separate, add another splash of pasta water and keep tossing. The parmesan goes in last, then a final handful of parsley. A saucier (a pan with curved sides) makes this much easier than a flat-bottomed pan because the pasta can roll over itself as you toss.

Ingredient Notes

Extra virgin olive oil:

This is essentially the entire flavour of the sauce, so use a good extra virgin. You don’t need to break the bank but the supermarket house brand won’t cut it. Look for a fresh, peppery oil from a producer you trust.

Spaghetti:

You want a good quality dried spaghetti for this one. You can use other pasta shapes, but the sauce won't emulsify and stick the pasta as well as spaghetti. Fresh pasta works too but the technique is built around the starch in dried pasta water.

Pasta water:

Yes, this is an ingredient. The starchy, well-salted water from the pasta pot is what turns olive oil into a creamy emulsion. Always scoop out a mugful before you drain.