Easy Spicy & Flavorful Spaghetti

Spaghetti sauce doesn't have to have 25 ingredients and cook for 10 hours. Sometimes... simple is more than adequate. This is my own recipe, but Italians have so many pasta sauce recipes, there is certainly a chance that this is a close match to some other recipe, but I use pitted Kalamata or Niçoise olives in brine, where Italians would likely use one of their own types of olive, of which they have several.

Ingredients:

1 pound spaghetti
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 large cloves of garlic
1 chili pepper (seeded and chopped) or for more heat, 1 red chili pepper and 1 green chili chopped
8 to 10 pitted Kalamata olives with 1 teaspoon brine (halve the olives)
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 14 to 16 ounce can tomato sauce

Cook the spaghetti per the instructions on the brand you use. Don't let it overcook, but keep it with a little firmness when you bite into it; that is, "al dente," as the term goes. In a large skillet, heat the extra virgin olive oil over medium heat. Slice the garlic into pieces and add it to the hot oil (keep the garlic slices big enough that you, your family or your guests can use a fork to move it to the side of the plate if eating garlic directly is not desired). Let it cook for about 30 to 40 seconds (shake the pan a time or two), and then add the chili pepper (I use both red and green hot chilies, and the sauce was not mouth-scorching). (NOTE: If you don't like much heat, just add a little sprinkle of red chili flakes or a pinch of cayenne pepper.) Add the olives and the teaspoon of brine and 1/2 teaspoon of thyme. After about 1 minute, stir in the tomato sauce, and cook until the sauce is hot, about 2 to 3 minutes. Drain the spaghetti. I put it into the skillet and mix it with the sauce. While I'm a lover of grated cheese on pasta (I especially love Pecorino Romano), I don't use cheese on this spaghetti and I've found that I much prefer it that way with this sauce. 

WORD HISTORY:
Duo-This word is related to "two," a native English word from its Germanic roots, whose relationship to "duo" is from Indo European. "Duo" goes back to Indo European "dwoh/dwah/duwo," which meant "two." This gave Latin "duo," which also meant, "two." This continued into Italian as "duo," with the same meaning, and it was borrowed by French as "duo," but with the somewhat altered meaning, "two things together, two items combined." This was borrowed by English, with likely reinforcement from Latin, in the latter part of the 1500s, initially with the meaning, "song for two people, song written for two singers." The meaning expanded to just about any activity done by two people working together.