Two words, three ingredients and one wonderful pasta dish. Cacio e pepe is a simple and tasteful dish with pecorino cheese and fresh black pepper. This world-famous pasta dish can be ready in only 10 minutes. And it’s perfect either for lunch or dinner.
Cacio e pepe is a poor dish, “born” in Rome, which was nomads’ frequent meal when travelling around the country. And when you are constantly travelling, you can’t carry the entire kitchen with you. Therefore, a few basic ingredients for a filling meal are essential. Usually, the simplest things taste the best.
The roman dish, cacio e pepe is nothing more than cheese and black pepper. And, these two ingredients are just enough to create one of the most delicious and famous pasta dishes in the world. In fact, you can find it on almost every menu of every Italian restaurant, especially in the USA. But, most of the times they like to make small changes and variations “not approved” by the Italians. Wink.
Pecorino and black pepper
We only need two words, cacio e pepe, to know about which delicacy we are talking about. Since there are only a couple of ingredients, I suggest using good ones. Italians suggest using explicitly pecorino romano cheese. Personally, I think there is nothing wrong using any pecorino or also Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, instead. Not everyone is able to find pecorino romano at the grocery.
Moreover, use fresh pepper. Ground the peppercorns yourself rather than buying already ground one. This way, the aroma will be very intensive and the dish more tasteful.
Also, Italians advice to choose the right pasta for the right sauce. Normally, for a cacio e pepe recipe, a pasta with a rough surface would be ideal. As a result, the sauce sticks nicely on the pasta and stays there.
Most of the times the favourite pasta for this recipe is spaghetti. In fact, I also decided on spaghetti. But for some more contrast in this dish, I also added a couple of black spaghetti. It makes a wonderful effect. However, you can still use some other pasta, such as penne rigate or mezze maniche, instead of spaghetti.
Also, make sure to combine the pasta with cheese and pepper in a bowl or pan, which is not being heated. The heat would just transform the cheese in bigger clumps. And that doesn’t look too nice.
Additionally, for more easy and delicious pasta recipes, I have these ready for you: stunning pumpkin black spaghetti, creamy camembert-pear farfalle, delicious penne with hazelnut sauce, classic tagliatelle with mortadella ragu, colourful autumn leave pasta and fancy lingua della suocera.
Ingredients for 2 portions of cacio e pepe:
- 200 g spaghetti
- 100-150 g pecorino romano (any other pecorino or Parmigiano Reggiano (grated))
- 5-8 g black peppercorns (ground)
- salt
Cook the pasta in some salted water. In the meantime, mix pecorino and pepper in a glass or aluminium bowl. Once the pasta is cooked “al dente”, transfer it into the bowl, where you have the cheese-pepper mixture. Make sure not to drain the pasta, but to lift it out of the water instead.
Moreover, the pasta will still have some moisture and as such will attract the sauce to itself. In addition to that, add more pasta water (one or two small ladles) and stir to amalgamate well all ingredients.
Finally, serve the cacio e pepe straight away, while still warm. As a result, fresh black peppers’ aroma will fill up the room and it will get up to your nose. Wink. Make it either for lunch or week-dinner. It takes no time to make everyone happy with this delicious and simple pasta dish.
Enjoy!
PS
If you like the recipe, if you make the recipe or if you have any new ideas how to improve or change it, let me know in the comments section below or alternatively share your photos and reactions with me on Instagram (@Passionspoon), Facebook or Twitter (@PassionSpoon1). Simply use the hashtag #passionspoonrecipes in your posts. I would love to see them! (wink)
