Cacio e Pepe

Ingredients

Instructions

1. Boil the pasta in well-salted water, but use about half the water you normally would. We want it cloudy and starchy, because that water is about to become the sauce. Salt it like it owes you money.
2. Toast the cracked pepper in a wide skillet over medium heat until fragrant, about 1 minute. Don't wander off. This is the one minute that matters.
3. Ladle in about ½ cup of the pasta water and let it bubble. It will hiss at you. That's normal. It hisses at everyone.
4. Meanwhile, whisk the pecorino with a few tablespoons of pasta water into a thick paste. Yes, a paste. I know. This is the whole trick.
5. Drain the pasta 2 minutes before the package says it's done and move it into the skillet with the pepper. It finishes cooking in there.
6. Take the pan off the heat. Off. The heat. Now add the cheese paste and toss hard, like it said something about your mother, until the sauce turns glossy. On the burner, the cheese seizes into little rubber pellets.
7. Loosen with splashes of pasta water as needed and serve immediately. Cacio e pepe waits for no one, including whoever's still looking for their phone.