Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino (Per Uno)

Quick and easy Italian comfort food at it's best.



It's extremely rare that I end out cooking an evening meal just for myself. Tonight, as it happens has been one of those nights. It's half term week and my family are off staying with relatives or away for work, and there I was, working away and wondering what to eat. For a house that's usually full of people it's a strange place when it's just me. I cook most evenings for all of us, but tonight I needed something quick and something that would fill the void created by an empty house. The last time this happened to me was three and a half years ago (!), and what did I cook? Aglio, olio e peperoncino.

I don't know of anything simpler that packs as much punch as this delightful dish. Ordinary dried spaghetti, good olive oil, garlic, fresh basil, chilli, butter and parmesan. Intensely aromatic, seriously 'peppery' and immensely satisfying.

I checked out the fridge and the pantry before walking to the the shop to pick up the last bits and pieces. Basil: check, garlic: check, chilli: oh yes, still plenty of my chilli bounty in the freezer -  but olive oil, parmesan and spaghetti? No.

Nice and frosty, straight from the freezer

This meal takes as long is it takes to boil spaghetti. Like ten minutes in total if you are organised. I do it like this:

Boil 1.5 litres of water in a kettle and transfer to a large pot with a good dash of salt. Add 100g of spaghetti to the boiling water. Roughly chop 4-5 cloves of garlic and as many chillies as you can handle. Finely grate a decent chunk of parmesan cheese (2-3 tablespoons works for me) and roughly break up a handful of basil leaves.

In a large frying pan, heat up 2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and toss in the garlic and chilli. Turn off the heat immediately as you do not want the garlic to brown, you just want it to infuse the hot oil.

When the spaghetti is cooked (it takes only 8 minutes or so), remove it from the water with tongs and toss it into the hot oil. Put the heat back on gently while you stir the garlic, chilli and oil through the spaghetti. Add a dollop of butter, half the parmesan and half the basil, give it a good toss and plate it up. Once on the plate add the rest of the basil and parmesan, crack open a super chilled bottle of white wine and go for it. You won't regret it. I promise.

Firefoodie's Christmas Chilli

I've been waiting all year for this. Since discovering that whole fresh chillies last forever in the freezer, I've been collecting them in preparation. This batch was made from about 3kg of chillies from various markets and enthusiastic friends with a few pots in the garden.

Collecting the jars is a year long task. I'm constantly making sure that the jars and lids I sneak into the dishwasher don't end out in the recycling care of our enthusiastic kids. I'm sure I'm short this year and have already started thinking about buying jars in bulk heaven forbid.

Label adhesives. One of my bug bears. There needs to be some international legislation governing what type of glue manufacturers use to stick labels on to jars. I soak my jars in water, and this is ok for about 2/3 of them, but the remaining ones need either oil, white spirit or methanol to remove the adhesive from the glass. I've almost become an expert on the chemical make up of various adhesives, and even worse, have started to select brands in the supermarket based on how easy the labels are to remove! Retailers out there... take heed. Glass is great and needs to be re-used, but don't make it so difficult that no one bothers. Enough ranting.

This method is a good way to preserve chilli for the pantry which literally lasts for years. Once opened keep it in the fridge and it will still last a month or so if it's not all eaten by then. We put ours on toast with cheese, in sandwiches, and generally just on the table to add to anything for a bit of a kick. The unique garlicky taste is quite addictive. It is freshly 'peppery' in the capsicum sense of the word and the bit of olive oil used to finish it helps spread the heat and aroma when used.

It's labour intensive, but totally worth it. It took me about an hour and a half to trim the stalks off each individual chilli before putting them in 15 x 200g batches in our food processor to roughly chop them up. 4 bulbs of garlic were then separated, squashed, peeled and finely chopped (in the same food processor) before adding to the chilli in a large pot.

I added a cup of olive oil, 1/4 cup of malt vinegar, 1/4 cup of cider vinegar and a tablespoon of salt. The mix was put on a low heat with a lid and stirred occasionally until the liquid released from the chilli and the mix then steamed in it's own moisture. For this amount it took about about an hour or so before it was ready to distribute into jars.

Then I tasted it. Beware if you have some (you will know who you are because this one is batch no. 1, and it's written on the label). I put a half a teaspoon on a water biscuit to test it and just barely survived. It's hot, so use sparingly and with love. The longer it lasts you the happier you will be. This batch made a mere 11 jars, about 250g net each, which is a lot of happiness. Upping the quantum is my next challenge, I mean 3 hours, 11 jars, 3kg chilli, that's about 20 minutes and 300g of chilli per jar. Commerce this is not.

Once in jars I placed them with the lids loosely on in a large baking dish of simmering water for another hour before sealing them for the long term. Once the lids are sealed, the contents then cool and create a vacuum in the jar with the minimum amount of oxygen and living organisms. Garlic is of course one of natures best preservatives, so you cant go wrong. I've had jars in the pantry for 2 years and they taste as good when opened if not better than when first made. Keep it moist with a bit of olive oil as you use it just to keep the nasties at bay. Enjoy.

Merry Christmas from Firefoodie.

Grilled Asparagus with Mustard and Chilli Vinaigrette

This tasty starter was served last night to our friends Annette and Les as a simple and quick prelude to a fairly intense main course of beef and guiness pie. The only fire involved with this one was the ceremonial lighting of the brazier in the garden after dinner.

Ingredients (for four):

- Large bunch of fresh asparagus spears (at least 6 spears per person)

- 4 slices of prosciutto crudo or parma ham

For the vinaigrette:

- 1/2 tea spoon of English mustard

- 1/2 tea spoon of finely chopped fresh chilli

- 1 tea spoon of mayonaise

- 3 table spoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tea spoons of white wine vinegar
- salt and pepper

Break off the woody ends of the asparagus spears by bending them to find the natural snapping point, then trim with a knife to neaten them up. Parboil the asparagus in salted boiling water for no more than 2 minutes and then rinse them in cold water to prevent them from over cooking. The spears should still be firm, and only just starting to wilt.

Dry the asparagus with kitchen paper or a tea towel before wrapping them up in bundles with the prosciutto.

For the vinaigrette, whisk all of the ingredients in a bowl and keep at room temperature.

Place the asparagus bundles under a hot grill for 3-5 minutes, checking to see that the prosciutto is sizzling nicely before serving. The prosciutto shrinks as it cooks which helps to hold the bunches together.

Serve onto warmed plates and drizzle the vinaigrette dressing over with a spoon.

Light in quantity and intense in flavour, this starter whips up your appetite for any hearty main course.