Il Primo - First Course
While the Antipasti course usually comprises cold or just warm dishes, the primo course is all about fabulous hot dishes such as pasta, risotto, gnocchi or soup. Always considered (and cooked) as a course on its own and not as a basic carbohydrate to accompany meals as a side dish, pasta is yet another delicious example of typical Italian inventiveness. With over 300 different shapes (formati)– from the most common ones such as spaghetti and rigatoni, to the oddly-named regional varieties of freshly made pasta – and a virtually endless number of possible combinations of ingredients to create both simple or elaborate sauces, there’s never a dull dish.

Spaghetti aglio, olio e pepperoncino – Abruzzi. 

INGREDIENTS:     

• 450g/16oz spaghetti or linguine
• 60ml/2 fl oz olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 red chilli, chopped (the strength is up to you)
• 4 -6 anchovy fillets, finely chopped or 1 tsp colatura*
• salt

METHOD:

1. Cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water for 5–6 minutes or until al dente
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan and fry the garlic and chilli gently, without letting them brown. At this point you could add the anchovies and let them dissolve in the oil, or add the colatura. This sauce doesn’t take more than 5 minutes to prepare
3. Lift the cooked pasta from the water, using pasta tongs, and mix directly into the sauce. I wouldn’t choose to add cheese here, but you can, only if you really insist.

* Colatura is one of the 'umami' foods and is commonly used in Southern Italian coastal regions to flavour pasta and rice dishes. It can be used to enhance other seafood ingredients, but also vegetable based sauces. But most often it is simply combined with garlic, olive oil and lemon zest to make a quick and delicious plate of spaghetti.