Pasta Agilo Olio E Peperoncino

Tonight, my host family made me a traditional Italian dish, what they think to be the most popular one within Italy. It is called pasta agilo olio e peperoncino or pasta with garlic, oil, and pepper flakes. They were surprised that I had yet to try it so they made sure that I got the opportunity and knew how to make it for later. Getting to know my host family has gotten easier with each time that I have gone to dinner with them. Beatrice has become one of my closest friends and promised that she would come visit me in the US sometime in the future. Elizabetta and Marco try so hard to speak English and do fairly well for knowing nothing. They feel bad when they cannot communicate with me as well as they would like to, but I don’t mind, it is the experience that I am here for and I appreciate them trying. They go above and beyond, knowing that I have relatives from Sicily, Elizabetta bought me a dozen oranges from Sicily to try. She also is having some of her friends, who also speak English, come over to meet me. It is very thoughtful the effort that she is putting in to make me feel as comfortable as possible. I am truly lucky.

Now for the fun part, the recipe. I thought I would share how to make this dish with all of you in case you wanted to try it yourself.

Pasta Agilo Olio E Peperoncino Recipe: 

Ingredients:

• Salt
• 2 to 3 whole fresh peperoncini (small red chiles), or small dried red chiles
• ⅔ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• ¼ cup chopped Italian parsley
• ¾ pound linguine or spaghetti

Preparation:

1. Put a pot of salted water on to boil. Remove the stems of the peperoncini, halve them lengthwise, then slice them into 1/4-inch lengths. Put the oil, garlic and peperoncini in a large deep pan set over medium-high heat, and cook until the garlic is translucent and golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the parsley to the pan, and turn off the heat.
2. Meanwhile, cook the pasta until it is aldente, nearly but not quite done and still a bit chalky in the middle. Drain, and reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid.
3. When the oil has cooled for a couple of minutes, add 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water, and reduce over high heat by about half. Add the pasta, and stir vigorously as it continues to cook. Add the reserved pasta water a bit at a time as necessary to finish cooking the pasta, and develop the thickened sauce. Season with salt, and serve.

If you end up making this, please comment below what you thought of it. I am curious! Enjoy.