Bring 3 quarts of salted water to boil over high heat. Once boiling, add pasta and cook until al dente, about 1 minute less than instructions. Turn off stove, and drain pasta into a collander and return the empty, dry pot to the stove.
Meanwhile, in a seperate very small saucepan, pour olive oil into the pan, and turn stove on to medium heat. Stir in minced garlic and red pepper flakes, and cook just until garlic starts to sizzle and smell good, about 30-45 seconds once oil has heated up (do not let garlic get too brown as it burns very quickly). Remove from heat quickly. Stir or whisk tomato paste into the oil.
Add drained pasta back into the larger pot and toss with the oil mixture until well combined.
Add in most of the grated parmesan cheese (saving some to sprinkle over top) and stir vigorously to mix in. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve topped with more parmesan.
Enjoy!