This Roman pasta clings to nothing but cheese and black pepper, the way it should. You have the star ingredient in hand, so all that's left is pasta, butter, and time enough to stir. Dinner in twenty minutes.

Serves 2. 20 minutes, 15 at the stove.

About 770 calories a serving, 31 g protein, 94 g carbohydrate, 29 g fat. From USDA figures for 100% of the ingredients; amounts are the recipe's.

Cook mode

1. Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a pot and salt it well. Add 8 ounces of pasta and cook until one minute shy of the package time, then drain, reserving 1 cup of the water.12 min
2. While the pasta cooks, grate 4 ounces of the cheese blend on the fine side of a box grater and crack 1 teaspoon of black pepper into a large bowl.
3. Add the drained pasta to the bowl with the pepper. Pour in 2 tablespoons of water and toss to coat, then add 2 tablespoons of butter and toss again.
4. Add the grated cheese in three handfuls, tossing hard between each one and adding a splash more of the reserved water if the pasta looks dry; the cheese and starch will make a creamy sauce.2 min

Note Use spaghetti, bucatini, or rigatoni; the shapes don't matter as much as the size. Leftovers don't improve, so serve at once. If you want more than this on your plate, add an arugula salad dressed only with oil, salt, and pepper.