Again focusing on Rome, Mr. Famularo presents us with a one-dish favorite in and around the Eternal City, both in homes and restaurants. Enhanced by the recommended bread and salad, a common theme throughout the book, this pasta dish is perhaps the simplest one I’ve come across so far. It contains only three ingredients (five if you include the salted cooking water); spaghetti, grated pecorino Romano cheese, and freshly ground black pepper. All of these ingredients have a long history in Rome. Spaghetti has been eaten in the Lazio region for hundreds of years (possibly a custom imported from Naples), while pepper and sheep’s milk cheese have an even longer history.

In ancient times, sheep and goat’s milk cheeses were preferred to those from cow’s milk (possibly due to the former being better adapted to the rugged terrain that covers much of Italy). Even today, Rome’s favorite cheeses are, according to the text, pecorino Romano and fresh sheep’s milk ricotta. During the Pax Romana (traditionally 27 BC to 180 AD) the empire imported so much pepper from India that multiple emperors tried to restrict imports to stem the outflow of silver from the Roman economy. Incidentally, they tried to ban silk for the same reason, with no more success. As pepper became more available and its price dropped, it became more popular than ever, even as it lost its place as an exclusive status symbol.

This was all as simple to put together as promised. If the cheese is grated beforehand and the lettuce washed and dried, everything elsecan be done while the water is boiling and the pasta is cooking. The bread can be warmed, table set, tomatoes and basil washed and dried, and salad assembled. Once the pasta is finished cooking, all that has to be done is sprinkle cheese over it, add pepper (as the only seasoning a good amount should be used), pour over some reserved cooking water, and toss to melt the cheese.

Overall, this was simple but really good. Ordinarily I’m not a big fan of Romano cheese (it has a bit of a funky taste to it), but grated and used in moderate amounts with pepper, it produced a pasta dish with a good flavor but not too strong. The one thing I would change is that I would not put salt in the salad, even though it was recommended. Though I only added it, along with the vinegar and oil, at the last minute, it quickly made the lettuce soggy and gave it a strange texture, though it was fine on the tomatoes. Maybe a different type of lettuce wouldn’t soften as fast, but personally I would skip it in the future since the salad had plenty of flavor without it. Still, the pasta was great and I would definitely make this menu again.