Pasta With Cheese and Pepper (Cacio e Pepe)

Excellent in its taste and in its simplicity. This is an Italian dish, most especially associated with Rome. The dish is meant to have a spicy taste from the black pepper; so if you like spiciness, you can add even more pepper. 

Ingredients:

6 quarts water, with 2 tablespoons salt
1 pound spaghetti
1/4 cup Pecorino Romano + extra for sprinkling on top
1/4 cup Parmigiano Reggiano
5 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup freshly and coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 cup hot pasta cooking water (you may not need to use all of it) 

Heat water to boiling with the salt added. Cook spaghetti about 8 or 9 minutes, making sure it is not too soft or mushy. In a skillet or pan over low heat, add the pepper, the olive oil and the butter. Let butter melt, stirring to mix the ingredients. Drain the spaghetti, but keep 1/2 cup of the hot cooking water. Add the cheeses to the warm oil/butter/pepper mixture. Stir well, then add one half of the hot pasta water, stirring further to mix well. Add the pasta to the skillet and stir to coat the pasta, adding tablespoons of hot pasta water to thin the cheese and pepper sauce, if needed. Sprinkle some cheese on top of each serving.  

The spaghetti and a glass of hard apple cider.* Hey, you Italians drink what you want, and I'll drink what I want, and I don't give a damn what Mussolini said; in fact, since he said it in Italian, I don't know what the hell he said anyway. And once I drink that big glass of hard cider, even if you translate, I still won't care! Just joking ... I don't want to find a horse's head in my bed... What's that? I won't find a horse's head, but I might find a horse's behind, if I look in the mirror? ... I don't get it, I don't even have a mirror in bed. 

* For those learning English, and for those unaware, in this case, the use of the word "hard" means it has an alcohol content, usually a fairly good percentage. In the U.S., while today, with high alcohol content beers produced by many craft breweries, in the past, beer was "seen" as being relatively low alcohol, as contrasted to what were then often referred to as "hard liquors;" that is, alcoholic beverages like various types of whiskey, with much higher alcohol content. 

WORD HISTORY:
Am-This word is part of a large and complex group of words connected into use with the composite verb "to be." ^ It goes back to Indo European "esme," which had the meaning "I exist;" thus, "I am." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "imi," with the same meaning. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "eom," which meant, "to be (in existence)." This then became "em," before then modern form. In the English of old(e), English speakers said, "ic beo" (I am). Why exactly "am" prevailed over the direct form of "be" ("beo"), I don't know, but "perhaps" it was by influence by Old Norse, which used "emi," which became "em" (am). Old Norse is another Germanic language, but from the North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages; whereas, English is from the West Germanic branch. Old Norse came to England with Old Norse speakers collectively called "Danes" by the English in those times. Gothic, another Germanic language, which died out, is from the East Germanic branch of Germanic, had "im" (am). There are forms in some other non Germanic Indo European languages too.

^ I say "composite," because the component parts of  "to be" actually come from forms of more than one old verb; thus, its highly irregular conjugation. It is a verb of the utmost importance, as I can't imagine the language being able to function without its various forms.