Pecorino Romano PDO Beyond Pasta: Innovative Dishes From Philly to San Francisco and Portland
WRITER Kathleen Willcox
PHOTOGRAPHY Octavia Films
For generations, Pecorino Romano PDO has been celebrated in the U.S. for its starring role in classic comfort-food dishes like cacio e pepe and carbonara, and as the perfect finishing touch to countless pastas. While it’s true that its bold flavor and texture make it an exceptional grating cheese, that’s only part of its story: Pecorino Romano PDO is a remarkably versatile ingredient with much to offer far beyond the pasta bowl.
In Europe, Pecorino Romano PDO holds a place of honor, celebrated for its rich history and bold flavor. Dating back to Roman times, it’s still made much as it was 2,000 years ago. Originally produced from sheep grazing across Lazio and Sardinia—where sheep still outnumber people—the cheese’s name comes from pecora, the Italian word for sheep.
Today, Pecorino Romano PDO remains a culinary favorite, prized for its sharp, salty, aromatic flavor and creamy texture. Made exclusively from the milk of sheep grazing wild grasses and herbs, it shines far beyond pasta dishes—though it will always remain the perfect finishing touch to a classic bowl.
For the third year running, Edible Manhattan is helping to spread the word across the country, co-hosting Pecorino Romano PDO feasts with Edible Portland, Edible San Francisco, and Edible Philly, and previously in New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Austin, and Miami.
These invitation-only family-style dinners were designed to be intimate, celebratory, and educational deep dives into Pecorino Romano PDO that would provide enough food for thought to make guests hungry for more. As ever, each city and chef brought their own distinct vibe and paradigm through which the glories of Pecorino Romano PDO were filtered, resulting in three very different but equally exciting menus.
Zoe Sweeting, content and community coordinator at Edible Manhattan Group, attended all three dinners, and confirmed that the dinners were joyful celebrations of this historic cheese.
“Overall, I realized how versatile this cheese is,” Sweeting says. “It can elevate any meal or it can be the star of its own dish. It’s so much more than a simple last-minute topping on a pasta dish.”
And this year, Edible Manhattan opted to bring in local cheese experts who could share insight into Pecorino Romano PDO’s storied history.
“That added educational component,” proposed by Edible Manhattan Group Publisher and Managing Director Amanda DiRobella, “really set the stage for the evening,” Sweeting says. “The guests understood before the first course was served just how historic Pecorino Romano PDO is.”
The Menus Across Three Cities
The first dinner was held at wine bar Enoteca Nostrana in Portland, OR, with Sam Rollins from fine cheese importer Cowbell providing the cheesy intel. (Rollins memorably demonstrated his deep devotion to Pecorino Romano PDO by bringing a 30-pound wheel with him).
Executive Chef Bryan Donaldson has long prioritized working with small, environmentally responsible farmers and carefully sourced ingredients. Nostrana (Enoteca’s elder sibling, right next door) has become renowned for the quality and creativity of its wood-fired, hand-tossed pizzas, creative pastas, and robust meat and fish dishes.
Chef Donaldson’s first course—a simple but unexpected and deeply evocative antipasto composed of ripe peaches, Pecorino Romano PDO, arugula, and spiced nuts—created the conditions for the surprising array of textures and flavors to come in the following courses. The Primo course was a deeply rich and delightful sformato, which in the chef’s hands meant a Pecorino Romano PDO fonduta, Jimmy Nardello peppers, and corn.
The pasta course (because #Italy) was deceptively simple in description, but in execution the idyllic blend of “simple” flavors that makes Italian food so beloved: Pecorino Romano PDO Tortellini with tomato and crispy prosciutto. The richest and most surprising course (save one) was the Pork Braciole, a fall-off-the-bone dish with Pecorino Romano PDO, prosciutto, and eggplant-pinenut caponata with green beans.
The Dolce course, a seada, which in the chef’s hands became a Pecorino Romano PDO hand pie with strawberry gelato, felt downright revolutionary. But the salty boldness of Pecorino Romano PDO, balanced by strawberry gelato, tasted like the kind of revolution we could eat every night.
San Francisco’s feast took place at Penny Roma, which has earned cult fave status for its wildly creative (but classic!) pasta dishes from across the boot. Chef Rachel Orner brought people what they came for—pasta + Pecorino Romano PDO—with a twist. As a deeply devoted student of cheese, she also introduced the history and context of Pecorino Romano PDO before the first course.
The first course—prosciutto, strawberry, Pecorino Romano PDO, and balsamico—kicked off the evening with an exciting flourish of salty-sweet, umami-rich, bright flavors.
But the main draw was the meticulously crafted pasta. In addition to offering a classic cacio e pepe, Chef Orner served a Rigatoni all’Amatriciana with guanciale, San Marzano tomatoes, Pecorino Romano PDO, and black pepper. The pasta dishes were rewarding, perfectly seasoned, and the kind of elevated comfort food that one imagines Sunday family dinners might achieve, but …
Chicken al Mattone—served with Pecorino Romano PDO fonduta, peperonata, pickled fennel, and pane strappato—delivered a surprising array of creamy, rich, briny, crunchy flavors, and textures that made it as fun to eat as it was tasty.
The dessert course—a Pecorino Romano PDO ice cream topped with candied hazelnut and balsamico—felt like an instant classic because it was surprising, but at the same time the richness of the cheese and the skill of the pastry chef rendered what could have been strange into something incredibly soulful and downright delicious.
Pecorino Romano PDO made its final bow of the year in Philadelphia, at Marc Vetri’s Fiorella, which is housed in the same storefront where Luigi Fiorella began selling high-quality Italian sausage in 1892. When the legendary sausage business closed its doors more than 100 years later, the family was happy to see it turn into a pasta bar in Vetri’s capable hands.
The evening began with Julia Fox-Birnbaum of the Philly Cheese School creating a pearl-clutching moment when she boldly declared that Pecorino Romano PDO was an ideal topper for fish.
The menu at Fiorella was a delightful blend of innovative and classic, starting with an antipasto sformato of figs, chicory, and Pecorino Romano PDO. The first pasta—an agnolotti with beets and Pecorino Romano PDO—was rich but earthy, with flavor that burst into your mouth. The second was fettuccine all’amatriciana, with perfectly rendered pork belly and Pecorino Romano PDO. Once again, the finale—a Pecorino Romano PDO cheesecake—was the biggest surprise: bold, savory, sweet, and definitely not a gimmick.
If Pecorino Romano PDO has only popped up on your table in pasta, don’t feel bad. And now you know it can be used in hand pies, ice cream, even … gasp … with fish! Do with that what you will, and consider investing in a 30-pound wheel yourself as you experiment.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or of the granting authority. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.