Authentic Peperoncino (with Ground Sesame)

Smack the garlic with the flat side of a knife to peel it, and cut off the hard bottom part. The germ burns easily, so remove it if it bothers you, but it can be left in. In Italy the garlic is often left whole rather than minced and removed later.

Remove the seeds from the chili pepper. This keeps a stray seed or two from ending up in the pasta. Leave the seeds in if you prefer.

Pour plenty of olive oil into a cold pan with the heat off, and add the garlic. Only now turn on the heat.

Add salt to the pot of water at 1.2% and start cooking the pasta (8 minutes per the package).

Lower the heat under the pan and cook the garlic slowly to bring out its aroma. You can take the garlic out at this point, but it's fine to leave it in rather than waste it.

Add the chili pepper, then the coarsely chopped parsley, stems and all. The leaves will burn, so turn off the heat once here.

Add the pasta cooking water in about five additions, then add a little water to adjust the consistency of the sauce. Keep it a bit on the loose side.

Check how the pasta is cooking. When the curve of the noodle relaxes and it clings to your chopsticks, that's the sign it's done.

Transfer the cooked pasta to the pan, place over medium heat, and toss everything together. If it's too salty or not salty enough, adjust with water or salt at this point. Taking the garlic out and returning it later gives it a crisp texture.

Turn off the heat, add a little more olive oil, and stir it in like a dressing to emulsify the cooking water and oil.

Add plenty of ground sesame (about three pinches' worth) and toss to coat. The sauce turns cloudy white and emulsifies, pulling together with no water or oil left separated.

Plate the pasta and finish with a sprinkle of chopped parsley.