I messed this up throughly, yet still ended up with something quite tasty. First the parmesan refused to melt in the pasta water; a problem brought on by, I think, a combination of not using the finest grater for the cheese and perhaps by adding too much water at one time. I attempted to rectify this by a quick blast in the microwave and succeeded only in creating clumps of inedible palme-plastic. However, clumps aside, the residue of the cheese and pepper left on the pasta was quite delicious.
From Felicity Cloake