Total time: 15 min
Difficulty: Easy

This is a famous recipe from Rome. I love the rich and tasty cuisine of this region of Italy (I lived there for some years), and I will post many more recipes typical of Lazio.

1. Set a pot of water to boil for the pasta. You can prepare the sauce in the time it takes for the water to boil and the pasta to cook, actually it will take longer for the pasta to cook than for you to prepare the sauce. For this kind of recipe I prefer to use Spaghetti, or some other kind of long pasta.
2. Grate the Pecorino cheese. My tip, as alway, is to buy the cheese whole, cut it in small cubes, and grate it in the food processor. Also, this particular cheese is not so common, and you may not be able to find it already grated.
3. Now, how to do the sauce? The original recipe would tell you to wait until the pasta is ready and mix it directly with the grated cheese and a ladle of cooking water in a bowl until you have a creamy blend. I’ve tried it, and it’s not as easy as it sounds. So I cheat, how? I wait until the pasta has one minute left of cooking time and mix the grated cheese (leave out a small spoon for each plate) with said ladle of pasta’s cooking water in a small container (I use a plastic measuring cup), and then I process it with a hand blender. The result couldn’t be creamier.
4. Once you’re done with the blending, the pasta should be cooked and ready to be dried. If you want to bring to the table a bowl, put the pasta in and pour the cheese salsa on top, or you can already plate it and pour the salsa on each plate. Mix well.
5. Sprinkle with abundant ground black pepper and the remaining cheese.
   

 Cacio e Pepe (Pecorino Cheese Spaghetti) Recipe by Camilla Isley