Spaghetti aglio e olio

Four ingredients, and none of them expensive: spaghetti, garlic, olive oil, chilli. Parsley is usual and the full Neapolitan name, spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino, includes the chilli as a given rather than an option. This is the dish Naples eats at one in the morning after everyone has come home, cheap enough to be the fallback in any kitchen and unforgiving enough that a bad one is immediately obvious. There is nowhere to hide: no tomato to cover a mistake, no cheese to add weight. What separates a version worth eating from a plate of oily noodles is entirely technique.