Four ingredients. Twenty minutes. One very good bottle of olive oil.

Let's be honest. Most of us have stood in the kitchen at 6pm with no plan, questionable energy, and a block of parmesan that needs using. This recipe was invented for exactly that moment.

Pasta aglio e olio is Italian for "pasta with garlic and oil" and it is proof that the Italians have always known something the rest of us are still figuring out. You do not need much. You just need good stuff.

The non-negotiable in this recipe is the olive oil. It is not a supporting act. It is basically the whole show. Which is why we use the Agostini Classico from Frantoio Agostini in Petritoli, Italy, and why you should too.

Herbaceous, fresh, with a whisper of artichoke and the kind of flavour that makes you stop mid-bite and think "oh, so that is what olive oil is supposed to taste like." Eighty years of Italian family craft in a bottle, available exclusively in South Africa from Jezreel Olive. No big deal. Just a very big deal.

Right. Let's cook.

What you need (serves 2)

●       200g spaghetti

●       4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

●      1 small red chilli, finely chopped (or chilli flakes if that is what you have)

●       A very generous pour of Agostini Classico extra virgin olive oil

●       A handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

●       Salt and black pepper

●       Parmesan, because obviously

What you do

Get your spaghetti into well-salted boiling water. Salt it like you mean it. The pasta water is doing important work here so do not skip this.

While that is bubbling away, pour a genuinely generous amount of Classico into a wide pan over medium-low heat. Add your garlic and chilli and let them do their thing slowly. Low and slow is the whole secret. You want the garlic to turn golden and fragrant, not brown and bitter. Keep an eye on it and resist the urge to turn up the heat.

Before you drain the pasta, scoop out a cup of that starchy pasta water. It is liquid gold for getting the sauce to come together.

Add the drained spaghetti to the pan with a good splash of pasta water and toss everything together until the sauce is glossy and clinging to every strand. This takes about a minute and it is genuinely satisfying to watch.

Off the heat. Add the parsley, another pour of Classico because you have earned it, and season generously.

Eat immediately. Do not let it sit. Do not check your phone. Just eat it.

The part where we talk about the oil

Pasta aglio e olio has nowhere to hide. There is no sauce, no cream, no slow-cooked ragu to carry you through. The oil is the dish, which means a great oil makes a great dinner and a mediocre oil makes a mediocre dinner -  and nobody has time for that.

The Agostini Classico is pressed from olives grown in the Le Marche region of central Italy by the same family who have been at it for eighty years. It is available exclusively in South Africa from Jezreel Olive, which means you are not going to find it at your local supermarket. You are welcome.

👉 Shop the Classico here: Agostini Classico