Cacio E Pepe

Photo: Elizabeth Schreiter

Ingredients

1 pound spaghetti, cooked to packaged directons with salt (though less than perhaps you

1/4 pound pecorino siciliano or pecorino romano, grated (get a cheese

2 tablespoons pepper, freshly cracked

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 ladles of the starchy water from the pasta, reserved

Preparation

In a bowl, combine the pepper and the oil; set aside.

Cook pasta to nearly al dente (a few minutes less than package directions).

Right before the pasta is finished cooking, reserve a few ladles of the hot, starchy water to help emulsify the cheese and oil, and add a little to the pepper and oil mixture (not all of it–little by little as needed).

In the pasta pot add the cheese, oil and pepper and toss to coat–if you need to add more water to thin the cheese out a little, add it here.

When cheese, pepper and oil have all been evenly distributed serve on plates or bowls and eat.

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About

In the last few months I have found myself exploring the delights of simple Roman pastas, and you can't get much simpler than this combination of pasta and cheese. The pepper adds just the right amount of bite, but if you can find a pecorino with peppercorns, use that as well to give it an added boost of flavor.