For ➍-➑*4 tbs olive oil
500 g dried spaghetti (or the thicker tonnarelli)
2 tbs butter
120 g Pecorino Romano cheese, finely grated**
1½ ts finely ground black pepper
salt***
Cook spaghetti in well-salted water in a large, wide-bottomed pot. Drain spaghetti, reserving 30 cl of pasta cooking water.
Dry out your pot, then heat the olive oil over high heat until almost smoking. Add drained spaghetti and 20 cl of pasta water. (This will splatter, so step back).****
Add butter, 80 g of cheese, ground pepper and toss together with tongs. Taste, adding more pasta water, cheese, pepper or salt (which should not be necessary, as Romano is very salty) to taste.
Serve immediately, sprinkling with cheese and an extra grind or two of black pepper.
**Use a mix of Pecorino and the smoother Cacio di Roma.
***Optional.
****To minimize spattering, add butter first. You can add pepper to the oil. A very basic variant would be to avoid the oil, add the cheese and some cooking water to the pasta, finishing it with the pepper.
'Cacio e pepe' is a classic from the Rome region. As usual, there are a zillion ways to make it.
