Pasta has been much in the news. Good on Mary Berry if she adds white wine and cream to her ragu. I bet it tastes good. Giles Coren found ‘depth and poetry’ in a typically Roman dish of spaghetti with cheeses and black pepper, Cacio e Pepe, that he ate in Stevie Parle’s new London restaurant, Palatino.

Stevie Parle, who knows a thing or two about spices, shared his recipe with readers of The Times.As always in Italian cooking, the quality and generosity of the ingredients is crucial. As he writes, ‘think of the pepper as a spice’ – which it is.

Simple as this dish sounds, the devil is in the execution. The sauce needs to be a thick and glossy emulsion to perfectly coat the spaghetti which should retain the ‘necessary bite’.

80g dried spaghetti per serving

Cook the spaghetti in a large pan of well salted water. When the pasta is half cooked,remove 100ml of the water and put it in a separate large pan with a generous pinch per serving of good quality ground pepper (Stevie Parle recommends Tellicherry). Boil to reduce by a quarter.

Then add 35g of finely grated Pecorino Romano and 25g Parmesan per portion and boil for no more than 20 seconds.Quickly strain the spaghetti while still a minute or two away from being al dente and add to the cheese and pepper sauce.

Continue to cook the spaghetti, stirring it around in the sauce using a rubber spatula. The sauce should become glossy and coat the pasta. If things start to go wrong, Stevie Parle’s tip is to add a little butter (for gloss) or a little of the pasta water (if the sauce is becoming stodgy).

Serve on hot plates with a little more ground pepper on top.