Spaghetti with cacio e pepe are one of the strongest dishes of the most authentic Roman tradition: grated pecorino and peppercorns, a recipe very simple but very tasty.
This type of pasta became the ideal, quick and substantial meal that quickly spread not only throughout Lazio, but also in neighboring regions (especially Umbria and Abruzzo). Soon the Roman taverns began to offer cheese and pepper making it a real highlight.
To prepare this dish we follow the advice of Giallo Zafferano: first take care of grating 200 g of pecorino. Continue by boiling the water in a pan (put about half of what you usually use to cook the pasta, so it will be richer in starch) and when it boils you can add salt to taste. Once salted, you can cook the spaghetti. Meanwhile, pour the whole peppercorns onto a cutting board, then mash them by pounding them with a meat pestle or grinder. In this way, the pungent scent of pepper will be released.
Pour half a dose of crushed pepper into a large non-stick pan, toast it over low heat, stirring with a wooden scoop, then blend with a couple of ladles of pasta cooking water. The bubbles that you will see appear will be due to the starch contained in the water. Then drain the spaghetti when they are very al dente (keeping the cooking water aside) and pour them directly into the pan with the toasted pepper; they will continue cooking with the sauce.
Stir the pasta continuously with kitchen tongs to let it “breathe” and add a ladle of water or two as needed, to continue cooking by “cooking” the spaghetti. Continue to pour a ladle of water only when needed (when you see that the pan is almost completely dry) and stir with the kitchen tongs. In the meantime that the pasta is cooked, take care of the Pecorino cream (do not start this operation first because the cream would thicken too much): pour about half a dose of grated Pecorino into a bowl.
Add a ladle of pasta cooking water to the grated Pecorino. Stir vigorously with a whisk and add more water as needed. Then add the remaining amount of Pecorino, keeping a little to one side to season later. Add a little more water as needed: at this stage you will need to carefully calibrate the amount of Pecorino and water to obtain a cream of the right consistency and without lumps. Serve it steaming with a nice glass of red wine.