Spaghetti Aglio Olio e Peperoncino

Three times a week for dinner my dad makes his current favourite dish, spaghetti aglio olio e peperoncino (pasta with garlic, oil and chilis). It is a sublime dish that brings comfort and positive emotions. You know he's cooking it because the house gets this warm and strong scent of garlic and you might cough at times if he’s put too many chillies. I don't remember him being so obsessed with it when we used to live in Milan so I finally asked him why he was so enamoured with it. Before answering it he gently put the fork down on his cotton napkin, swallowed the pasta, took a sip of wine while swishing it in his mouth (as if he had mouth wash) and finally swallowed it all down. He tells me it was one of his favourite dishes his mother used to cook for him when he was a kid. This dish reminded him of those warm days in Mogadiscio while coming back from school.

My father has always had food obsessions now that I think about it, but not to this extent. Once a month we would invite our family over on Sunday and make huge feasts of antipasti, pasta, meat or fish, salads, desserts and finally a digestif. His love for food has definitely come from his mother. She was the only person in our family to be trained as a Cordon Bleu. Everyone remembers the feasts she used to make and most importantly the passion she gave to all her guests and family. So much so that all the women and men on my dad's side try to this day to cook like her.

I never attempted to make this dish because I tend to prefer different options if I am at a restaurant or home alone. All these 3 nights of the week of this dish pushed me to ask my dad to show me how to finally make this kind of pasta. He arrived in the kitchen with his white t-shirt and baggy boxers and was so excited to show me how to make it. “You start by chopping up very finely 9 cloves of garlic (that's a lot!), 4 chillies and separating them into different bowls. Take out 1 pan for the mixture and one pot for the spaghetti (it's a must that the pasta has to be spaghetti). While you boil water for the pasta turn on the fire for your pan and put at least a considerable amount of olive oil (of course Italian) and when it's warm add the garlic. Once the garlic gets slightly brown, add the chillies mixing it up and then lower the heat. After you’ve boiled the pasta you must bring it all to the pan with the olive oil, garlic and chillies. What’s very important is that you take at least one generous cup of water from the pot where the pasta has cooked, this is because it adds necessary moisture to the pasta and doesn’t make it dry. And voila dinner is served!” He adds to his dish also a handful of Parmigiano, but that’s considered blasphemy in Italy (Italians are very strict with their traditions, especially their food).

Spaghetti aglio olio e peperoncino is a dish that is not just delicious, it’s a way for the entire family to join in the kitchen and work together while spending quality time. And that’s the real reason my dad loves it so much. After all family is everything and food is the bridge of time and communication.