Best Spaghetti Aglio e Olio

 {Aglio e Olio spaghetti with grated parmesan and sauteed cherry tomatoes}    

A few weeks ago, we decided to not make an exception for Easter and continued our Pasta Sunday tradition.  We made a simple Aglio e Olio spaghetti (I love Ina Garten's recipe from her cookbook, How Easy is That?) and cooked some cherry tomatoes to put on the side.  In celebration of the holiday, we decided to have a festive spring dessert and a strawberry jelly roll cake was the perfect choice.  For the pasta all you need to do is cook some chopped garlic and hot chili flakes in olive oil.  (I use about 4-5 cloves of garlic and a teaspoon of chili flakes.)  When you drain the pasta, reserve about 3/4 of a cup of the pasta water and add it to the chili oil.  Grate in a generous amount of parmesan cheese while stirring, then pour over pasta.  Add 1/2 cup of finely chopped parsley and salt and pepper according to taste.  I love De Cecco spaghetti which Ina recommends, as it has the best bite of any dried pasta.  

{Jelly roll cake with strawberries and whipped cream}

{Sliced jelly roll cake}