Spaghetti aglio, olio e pepperoncino and another dinner party

I'm planning another dinner party ... there's a surprise! It's of course with my two favorite boys, Ramtin and Andrew, but this time I'm also adding two more boys, Angelo (an ex-colleague of The Boy's) and Rohan (our realtor).

I asked Ramtin and Andrew to choose the menu for the dinner party, since I thought it might be nice to revisit some of their favorites from past dinners.

This is what they picked:

For a starter - spaghetti aglio, olio e pepperoncino, which is a lovely spaghetti tossed in olive oil, garlic, chili and parsley. A super simple dish and amazingly tasty.

For the main - crustless quiche with bacon and tomato and shepherd's pie. I'm going to match that with a big bowl of green leafy salad with different types of lettuce, cucumber, Spanish onion, fennel and grape tomatoes, tossed in a plum vinegar dressing.

For dessert - I've made a caramel ice cream and I'm going to match that with a sticky date pudding and caramel sauce.

So that's it. A pretty simple dinner menu for the most part. Timing is going to be simple too. I can cook the shepherd's pie earlier in the afternoon and have it all ready to pop in the oven when the time comes. The quiche is a very quick mix and pop into the oven and the salad would only take a few minutes to toss together. Not much needs to be done beforehand, so unlike the French themed dinner party, I don't think I will be spending the entire day cooking.

Here's my favorite way to eat spaghetti, the RECIPE to the spaghetti aglio, olio e pepperoncino:

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch fresh Continental parsley
• 2 cloves of garlic
• A pinch of chilli
• A pinch of salt
• Olive oil
• Spaghetti
• Parmesan cheese to garnish

Instructions:

• In a separate pot, cook spaghetti until al dente until almost ready, then
• Chop parsley very finely
• Mince garlic with pinch of salt
• In a heated frying pan, pour in olive oil and heat
• Put in parsley and garlic and brown garlic gently in pan, throw in pinch of chilli
• When spaghetti is ready, ladle into frying pan and mix with garlic, parsley and chilli
• Add a little water (about ½ cup) to the pan while mixing spaghetti with garlic, parsley and chilli
• Serve in plates straight from pan and garnish with parmesan cheese
• Eat hot

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I do.


Is there a particular type of pasta that you always lean towards? Creamy sauce? Tomato sauce? Tossed in olive oil? What's your favorite way of eating your pasta?

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