Ingredients
- 2 litresgenerously salted water
- 250 ggood-quality bronze-die dried pasta – either spaghetti, bucatini or linguine (my favourite is De Cecco)
- About a tablespoon of whole peppercorns
- 25 gbutter
- 50 gpecorino romano
- 50 gParmesan cheese
- Fresh thyme
- Bring the salted water to the boil, add the pasta and cook for about 2 minutes less than the packet instructions.
- While the pasta is cooking, heat a frying pan and toast either whole peppercorns (if you have a pestle and mortar) or plenty of freshly ground black pepper, depending on how peppery you want it. You need about a tablespoon of whole peppercorns. If you want it stronger, just toast a few more peppercorns.
- Let the pepper heat through for about a minute before grinding it in a pestle and mortar.
- Add the crushed pepper first, then some cooking water and then the butter, and heat gently for a couple of minutes.
- Add the undercooked, drained pasta, the freshly grated cheese and 1-2 dl of pasta cooking water, and finish cooking the pasta in the pan over a low heat.
- Once the pasta, cheese and water have come together into a creamy sauce, stir in a little fresh thyme before serving with a little extra freshly ground pepper and thyme on top.
