Spaghetti With Oil, Garlic And Chile

Put the spaghetti to cook in boiling salted water for 3-4 minutes at a boil.

Take off the heat and allow to stand with the lid on while you prepare thesauce. The pasta will be ready in about 6-7 minutes from the time you stopit cooking on the fire.

Peel and crush the garlic with salt until you have coarse puree. Heat theoil in a pan gently and add the garlic puree to it. Let it warm, but do not letit fry until it's brown. Depending on how hot you like your spaghetti, splitthe chillies and, if you like moderation, get rid of the seeds. The seedsare quite the hottest part! Rough chop the chilli and add that to the oil andgarlic mixture, turning it until the aromas of both the chilli and thegarlic rise from the oil, but it is not frying hard.

When the spaghetti is al dente, drain it thoroughly and rinse it throughwitha pint of cold water. Put the spaghetti into a bowl, it will still be warm,and tip over it the garlic, oil and chilli mixture. Turn thoroughly andserveimmediately. Whether or not to use grated cheese with this is very much amatter of taste, but I must admit a preference for a little cheese to evenout the pungency of the flavours. Black pepper is always turned fresh out ofthe mill liberally over the pasta when it's been served in portions.

This dish has a number of different names in different parts of the area. Itis sometimes known as Zappatora. In other places it's known by a moredescriptive name of Aglio Olio e Pepperocimo. Either way it's very simple,very, very Italian and very