Cacio e Pepe
Moving along from the last recipe, we now head to the third letter, C, and I hope you get to see how delicious of a recipe this one will be.
There were quite a few options here. I could’ve gone with a specific pasta shape like Cavatelli, Cavatappi, or Canneloni, or gone with something a bit modern like cioppino. But, no, today I decided to go old school Italian by making one of the simplest yet most complex pasta recipes out there, Cacio e Pepe.
Cacio e Pepe hones in on complete simplicity with the fact that it only contains 3 ingredients: pasta, cheese (usually Pecorino Romano), and black pepper, yet it is surprisingly complicated to make. The main issue is how to get that grated cheese to break down into a creamy sauce base instead of clumping up.
Fortunately, there is a rather simple but effective trick to get around this pitfall. The key is to mix some cheese with the starchy pasta water to form a paste, that hydrates the cheese a bit and helps it break down to become nice and creamy.
Serves 2
Salt
1/2 pound of any pasta
1 1/2 cups freshly grated Pecorino Romano (You do want to make sure the cheese is as fresh as possible as it’ll break down and become creamy a lot easier)
2 tbsp whole black peppercorns
Bring a medium saucepan filled 3/4 full with salted water to a boil. Add your pasta and cook for about 7-9 minutes, or until al dente.
While the pasta cooks, dump your peppercorns into a pestle and mortar and bash into a coarse powder (You could also dump them onto a baking sheet and smash them with a heavy pot). Dump these into a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, and leave it to toast for about a minute.
Take a small cupful of the pasta cooking water (about 1-2 tablespoons) and add that to your grated pecorino, then stir that with a spoon to form a thick paste.
As soon as the pasta is cooked, reserve 1/2 cup of the water and drain. Pour a few tablespoons of the water into the toasted pepper, then mix in the pasta. Let the pasta rest for about 1 minute.
(Resting the pasta is not an optional step, doing so will keep the cheese paste from melting and becoming sticky, but instead should form a smooth sauce)
Hoping the pasta is at the right temperature, dump in the cheese paste and add just enough pasta water to turn the cheese into a thick, smooth sauce that coats the pasta nicely, pressing down on the cheese paste as you do so. Serve right away.
