Spaghetti with Pecorino Romano Cheese

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Friday night at our house is usually Italian night. After a long week I don’t like to spend too much time on dinner on Fridays so we either have pizza or some type of easy pasta dish. We had a lot of tomato sauce this week so I didn’t want anything with a tomato or marinara base. I found a simple recipe in Cook’s Illustrated that I wanted to try.

The recipe is simply spaghetti with Pecorino Romano, fresh cracked black pepper, and a little cream. it’s very simple and the sauce is fairly thin but it’s a great dish. The flavor of the cheese and pepper shines through and lightly coats the pasta. The pasta and sauce took less then 20 minutes which makes for a quick and easy weeknight meal.

Spaghetti with Pecorino Romano Cheese (adapted from Cooks Illustrated)

6 oz. Pecorino Romano cheese, 4 ounces finely grated and 2 ounces coarsely grated

1pound spaghetti

1 t. salt

2 T. fat free half and half

2 t. olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 t. fresh ground black pepper

1. In a large pot over high heat bring 2 quarts of water and the salt to a boil. Cook the spaghetti according to the package directions.

2. Drain the pasta into a colander with a bowl underneath to reserve the pasta water. Pour 1 1/2 cups of the pasta water into a measuring cup and discard the rest.

3. Pour one cup of the pasta water into the large pot and whisk in the finely grated Pecorino cheese. Whisk in the half and half, oil, garlic, and black pepper.

4. Add the pasta back into the pot and toss to coat. Let the pasta rest for 2 minutes then toss again.

5. Serve with coarsely grated Pecorino and fresh cracked pepper.

6 Comments

I also really like non-tomato pasta sometimes. Light cream and a bit of grated cheese makes a delicious meal.

Oh that’s a great idea to having Italian night for the week. I’m always trying to decide what we would have for dinner. A schedule might be great here.

I want to try this out but we don’t have those types of cheeses available in the grocery store. We’d have to go to a specialty store (aka expensivo!) to get them. 🙁

this looks simple but good.

I found this via Simple Living with Diane Balch. I linked in a retro steak dish. Have a super week.

Hi Heather,
This is an awesome plate of Spaghetti! Hope you are having a great holiday week and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen