Recipe by chef Michela Mattioli

Procedure

For the cherry tomato sauce
Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and arrange them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, cut-side up. Season with salt, powdered sugar, a few leaves of thyme and marjoram, and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil. Bake at 130°C for about 50 minutes, until the tomatoes are concentrated, soft, and slightly caramelized.
Once cooked, transfer them while still hot to the bowl of a blender and blend until you obtain a smooth purée. Then strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing firmly with a spatula to remove the skins and seeds, resulting in a smooth, concentrated cherry tomato sauce.

For blanched and peeled fava beans
Cut off one end of the pod, gently pull out the string along the side (if present), and split the pod in half with your fingers to remove the beans. On each fava bean, remove the small protrusion where it attached to the pod by applying light pressure with your fingers. Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil and blanch the peeled fava beans for about 30 seconds, just long enough to set the color and mellow the raw flavor, while keeping the inside crisp.
Set aside the water from the fava beans to melt the pecorino cheese. Drain them immediately and cool them in ice water to preserve their bright green color. Dry them gently and set them aside, as they will be used later in the pasta dish.

For the chili-flavored bread crumbs
Cut the bread into slices and break them into small pieces. Heat a drizzle of oil in a skillet, add the unpeeled garlic clove and the piece of fresh chili pepper, and let them sizzle gently to release their fragrance and aroma. Add the bread pieces and toast them, stirring occasionally, until they are golden, fragrant, and crispy. Remove the garlic and chili pepper and let the toasted bread cool completely. Then transfer the cooled pieces to a food processor and pulse coarsely until you have irregular, crispy, and aromatic crumbs.

For the Pecorino Cream
Finely grate the Pecorino Romano into a large bowl. Slowly pour in the hot water from the blanched fava beans, stirring constantly with a whisk or spoon so that the cheese melts gradually and turns into a smooth, fluid cream without any lumps. Add a sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper and stir again to blend the flavors well. Set the Pecorino cream aside; it will be used later to toss with the pasta. Keep it warm until ready to use.

For cooking the spaghetti and finishing the dish:
320 g Orobio spaghetti
Blanched and peeled fava beans, to taste (from the previous preparation)
Pecorino cream, to taste
Concentrated cherry tomato sauce, to taste
Chili-flavored breadcrumbs, to taste

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the Orobio spaghetti for 2 minutes, until just tender but still al dente. Immediately transfer them to a large skillet and continue cooking as you would a risotto, gradually adding the hot cooking water so that the spaghetti absorbs the liquid little by little and remains creamy. About 2–3 minutes before the end of cooking, add the blanched fava beans and gently stir to combine.
Once cooked, turn off the heat and stir in the pecorino cream, setting aside 1–2 tablespoons for plating. Stir the spaghetti vigorously so that the cream melts completely and coats the pasta, making it glossy and creamy.

Plating
In a shallow bowl, arrange a nest of Orobio spaghetti with the fava beans and the creamy pecorino sauce. Spoon a tablespoon of the reserved pecorino cream over the top. Finish the dish by adding a few drops of concentrated cherry tomato sauce and garnish with the chili-flavored breadcrumbs, distributing them evenly.