I’ve been fed this in Sicily by my husband’s family. It’s served as a late night snack - Sicilians whip up this up (I call it Al Yo Yo after hearing them pronounce it) in something like two minutes. They don’t use butter. Just olive oil, garlic and cheese. Delicious!
My current favorite is Spaghetti Carbonara with bacon, peas and an egg cracked into it. My husband makes it very nicely. We made it with rigatoni about a week ago and that worked well too.
Chef John says that the Aglio e Olio is the Italians’ favorite way to cook Spaghetti.
(But I don’t think I’ll ever get my Italian-descent husband-unit to forego the family Tomato Sauce ;-)
When Husband and his siblings were very little, one year Mom asked them what they wanted for Christmas Dinner. They all said, “Spaghetti!” and ever since, the family Christmas dinner has been Spaghetti with ‘Special Christmas Sauce’, which includes stew beef, sweet Italian sausage, and pepperoni (all made with homemade sauce, from homegrown tomatoes, that has been aged for a year - my father-in-law always held back 8 quarts of puree every year, just for Christmas the next year :-)
-JT