This is the Roman dish that asks nothing but pasta, garlic, and good olive oil to sing. You have the bronze cut spaghetti, which grabs sauce beautifully, and the rest is pantry work. Dinner is thirty minutes from now.

Serves 2. 30 minutes, 15 at the stove.

About 440 calories a serving, 15 g protein, 88 g carbohydrate, 2 g fat. From USDA figures for 75% of the ingredients; amounts are the recipe's.

You need 8 ounces bronze cut spaghetti (Ronzoni), 1/4 cup olive oil, 6 cloves garlic, to taste salt, to taste pepper, 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes.

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add 8 ounces of bronze cut spaghetti, stirring to separate the strands. The water should return to a boil within two minutes.
2. While the pasta cooks, thinly slice 6 cloves of garlic. Pour 1/4 cup of olive oil into a large skillet over medium heat and add the garlic with 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes. Cook gently until the garlic is pale gold and fragrant, about three minutes, stirring often so it does not brown.3 min
3. When the spaghetti is tender but still firm, reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water and drain the rest. Add the hot pasta directly to the skillet with the garlic oil and toss well, adding reserved water a tablespoon at a time until the sauce coats the strands lightly. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

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Note Swap in fresh parsley or grated cheese if you have them, though neither is needed. Leftovers keep two days in the refrigerator and rewarm gently with a splash of water. Serve with a simple green salad and crusty bread to finish the oil at the bottom of the bowl.