Tagliolini With Pecorino Romano and Black Pepper

OwlMonkey's Note:

Don't let the number of ingredients fool you, this dish offers a lot of flavor despite it's simplicity. Be sure to get high quality ingredients; it makes a big difference in a recipe with so few ingredients and it's still ridiculously cheap to make. Even the pepper is important, don't use the powdery stuff that's been sitting around for a year, splurge on some high quality peppercorns; you won't regret it. The lack of oil is one of the most notable things about this recipe. While some add oil or butter to this dish, you'll find it really isn't necessary. Instead you use the starchy pasta water to create an emulsion sauce with your cheese which will stick to the pasta beautifully. As for the pasta itself, taglioni is a particular cut, but this recipe would work just as well with something thicker like tagliatelle or fettucine. Although it's an old Roman favorite, I got this recipe from a recipe blog called "Rachel Eats" which I highly recommended. I wanted to post it on here to give it a wider audience.

• Total Time: 8 mins
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 3 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 3

• 1⁄3; lb high quality pecorino romano cheese
• 2 lbs , fresh taglioni
• plenty of high quality black pepper

Directions:

1. Bring a large pan of fresh water to a fast boil and salt it genourously. Grate the pecorino and get a warm serving bowl ready. Tip the cheese in the bowl and grate over plenty of black pepper.
2. Drop the pasta in the boiling water and set your timer, my pasta only takes about 3 and a half minutes. When the pasta is about a minute away from being ready, scoop out a small ladelful of cooking water and add it to the cheese and pepper, using a fork quickly whisk into a creamy emulsion.
3. Once the pasta has reached al dente perfection quickly drain it, then tip it into the serving bowl alongwith the creamy suace, Toss everything together and divide between your serving bowls. Immediatly sprinkle over the extra freshly grated pecorino and grind over more pepper. Serve straight away.