A saucepan to boil the water, a 10” or larger frying pan to emulsify the butter with the pasta.
Ingredients
Bucatini pasta(linguini or spaghetti works too).
1tspBlack pepper freshly ground and coarse
½cupWater reserved from cooking pasta
½cupPecorino romano cheese freshly grated and divided, 1 tbsp for garnish( Parmesan work too).
4tbspbutter
Instructions
Bring 6-7 cups of water and add pasta in – cook the pasta to direction (typically about 8 to 10 minutes for al dente texture)
As the pasta cooks, separate the strands to avoid clumping.Grate cheese and set aside.
About two minutes before the pasta is cooked, heat the frying pan with a half a cup of pasta water and bring to a boil. Add the pasta (don’t drain it) to the frying pan, raise heat to high and with tongs or a fork, vigorously blend in the butter 2 tbsp at a time. Keep stirring until the emulsified liquid starts to thicken.Test pasta for doneness.
When pasta is done, Remove from the fire, add the 1/2 cup of cheese and a couple of twists of the pepper grinder and blend well.
Serve, dress with a little more cheese, salt to taste and enjoy.
Recipe NotesHere is a really scientific way to figure out a portion for two people. Curl the tip of your index finger around the spaghetti to the tip of your thumbOnce you add the cheese, if the pasta feels like it’s clumpy, you can add some of the water you reserved to make sure that the pasta is coated evenly