Cacio e Pepe Recipe

 

Cacio e Pepe Recipe

Cacio e Pepe is really simple. It is also very comforting. You have pasta, and it is mixed with a very smooth sauce. This sauce is made with a few things: Pecorino Romano cheese that is grated fresh, a lot of black pepper that is cracked, and the water that the pasta was cooked in. When you heat this sauce in a pan, the cheese melts. It becomes shiny and has black pepper bits in it. This sauce sticks to every piece of Cacio e Pepe pasta that you eat. The result is a creamy dish without containing any cream. It is salty. Has a subtle bite to it. This dish is really satisfying because it does not have too much going on. The food is satisfying because the dish is well-prepared.

Photo Credit: Isa Zapata

 

 Why I love it

I really love it because it is something that I enjoy a lot. The reason I love it is that it makes me happy. I love it so much that I want to tell everyone about it. It is something that I think about all the time. I love it.

I really like Cacio e Pepe. It shows that you do not need a lot of stuff to make something really good. A few good things can be enough.

 

When you mix the cheese into the water, it is nice to watch. The cheese turns into a sauce. This is very relaxing.

The pepper gives a kick. It wakes up your taste. The Pecorino cheese is sharp and salty. It feels like a treat. It is not too heavy.

Cacio e Pepe is a dish you can make when you are tired.. It feels like you are having a special Italian meal. The smell of toasted pepper and cheese that is melting fills up the kitchen. This makes everyone go to the stove. They all want to see what is cooking. The kitchen is filled with the smell of toasted pepper and melting cheese.

Quick info

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Total time: 25 minutes

Serves: 4

Difficulty level: Easy

Here are the things you need to make this recipe for 4 people

·       400 g (about 14 oz) spaghetti or tonnarelli

·       2 cups of freshly grated Pecorino Romano (about 200 g)

·       You will need 2 tablespoons of pepper that you crack yourself and you should also have some extra black pepper for garnish

·       4 cups water (for pasta)

·       2 tablespoons of olive oil (optional, for a richer mouthfeel)

·       Salt, to taste the pasta water

Tools

o   Large pot for boiling pasta

o   Fine‑mesh sieve or colander

o   Large stainless‑steel skillet or sauté pan

o   Heat‑proof whisk

o   Small bowl for mixing cheese and pepper

o   Measuring cups and spoons

o   You will need a grater. I think a microplane grater works really well for this task, so try to use a microplane grater if you have one.

 

Instructions

Step 1.

Boil the water. Fill a pot with around 4 cups of water. Add salt to the water. Then bring the water to a boil. The water does not have to be very salty, like the seawater. The cheese will give the water a lot of flavor. The cheese is what will make the water taste good.

Step 2.

Cook the pasta. You have to put the spaghetti or the tonnarelli into the water that is boiling. You should stir the pasta from time to time so the strands do not stick together. The pasta is done when it is al dente. This will take one minute less than what the package says. The reason for this is that the pasta will finish cooking in the pasta sauce.

Step 3.

Save the water you cooked your pasta in. Before you pour it out, take a cup of the water and put it to the side. This water has helpers in it that make your sauce really smooth. Now pour out the rest of the water from the pasta, but do not wash the pasta with water. You want the pasta to still be hot. The water you saved, which is the pasta cooking water, will help make a sauce for your pasta.

Step 4.

Toast the pepper. When the pasta is cooking, put the skillet on the stove. Turn the heat to medium. Now add the pepper that you cracked and let it cook for 30 seconds, just until the pepper smells good. You have to be careful so you do not burn the pepper. All you need to do is give the pan a shake.

Step 5.

Now we need to combine the pasta and the pepper. We will add the pasta that we drained to the skillet that has the toasted pepper in it. We should toss the pasta quickly so that the noodles get covered with the oil that has the pepper flavor. If we used olive oil this is the time to add it to the pasta and pepper.

Step 6.

Now it is time to create the emulsion. You should turn the heat off. Lower it to very low. Then you sprinkle the Pecorino over the pasta. Next, you start whisking hard. As you do this, you add a bit of the reserved pasta water at a time. The Pecorino cheese will. Turn into a creamy sauce that gets thicker as you keep whisking the Pecorino sauce. You just keep adding water until the Pecorino sauce is shiny and coats the pasta like a thin layer of cream.

Step 7.

Adjust the seasoning. Taste the sauce. Add a little salt if you think it needs it. Remember that the cheese is already salty. Now give the sauce a toss so every strand of pasta is covered in the sauce. This way, you can be sure that every strand is coated with the cheese sauce.

Step 8.

Now it is time to put the food on the plates and make it look nice. We need to divide the pasta among four plates. Then we should sprinkle an extra cracked pepper on top of each serving of pasta. If you want to you can also add a shaving of Pecorino on top of the pasta. The pasta should be served immediately while the pasta sauce is still silky and nice.

 

Here are the approximate macros for each serving. We are talking about 4 servings here. We used olive oil. The approximate macros, per serving, are based on this.

v  Calories: 620 kcal

v  Protein: 28 g

v  Fat: 26 g

v  Carbohydrates: 68 g

v  Fiber: 3 g

v  Sugar: 2 g

v  Sodium: 1,200 mg

What to serve with this

I really like a green salad with lemon juice and olive oil because it helps with the richness. A glass of wine like Verdicchio is also great with the salty cheese.

If you want a meal, you can add some roasted asparagus or sautéed zucchini with garlic and herbs on the side. The green salad and the white wine, like Verdicchio are really good together.

Tips & variations

·       Use a mix of Pecorino and Parmigiano for a milder flavor.

·       Add a teaspoon of butter to the sauce for extra silkiness.

·       For a spicy twist, finish with a pinch of cayenne or red‑pepper flakes.

·       If you are not eating dairy, you can use cheese instead of Pecorino. Try a vegan cheese that is really old and add a little bit of nutritional yeast. This will give you a taste of the Pecorino cheese. You can use vegan cheese and nutritional yeast together to get the flavor you want in your food.

·       I think Tonnarelli, which is like spaghetti, is really good at holding onto the sauce. This is because of its shape. But you can use any kind of pasta you like, it's all okay. Tonnarelli is just a little better at keeping the sauce on it. So, if you want to use spaghetti, that is fine too. The main thing is that you like the pasta you are using and that it works with the sauce. Tonnarelli is a choice, but it is not the only one.

·       When you are cooking pasta, it is a good idea to reserve a second cup of pasta water. You might need to use this pasta water to loosen the pasta sauce if it becomes too thick. This way, you can easily loosen the pasta sauce with the pasta water.

 Frequently asked questions

1. Is it possible to make Cacio e Pepe and then serve it later?

This food is best when you eat it away.. If you have some left over you can heat it up again in a pan, with a little water. This helps to make the sauce taste good. You should heat the leftovers gently so they do not get ruined. The water will help to make the sauce creamy and nice.

2. Why does my sauce turn grainy?

 I am wondering why my sauce always turns out grainy. Sometimes when I make sauce, it looks really smooth at first. Then it becomes grainy. I do not like it when my sauce turns grainy because it does not taste very good. I want to know why my sauce turns grainy. Is it something to do with the sauce itself? Is it something I am doing wrong when I make the sauce? My sauce is the problem. I want to fix my sauce so it does not turn grainy anymore.

When you are working with cheese, it is really important to be careful. Overheating the cheese or adding too much water too quickly can cause the cheese to seize. So what you should do is keep the heat low and add water gradually while you are whisking the cheese. This way, you can avoid the cheese seizing up. It will turn out nice and smooth. Keep the heat low. Add the water to the cheese very slowly, and always whisk the cheese while you are adding the water.

3. Do you really have to use Pecorino Romano?

 Pecorino cheese has a sharp and salty flavor. If you do not like that, you can use Pecorino and Parmigiano cheese mixed. This way, Pecorino and Parmigiano cheese will give you a taste.

4. Can I use the ground pepper that I have? I mean the pepper that's already ground.

When you use cracked pepper, it is really great because it smells very good and the texture is nice. On the other hand, pepper that is already ground up does not taste as good after a while because it loses its strong flavor. Cracked pepper is the best choice if you want to get the most flavor out of your pepper.

5. How do I prevent the pasta from sticking together?

When I am cooking pasta, I want to know how to prevent the pasta from sticking. The pasta sticking together is really annoying. To stop the pasta from sticking, what can I do? I do not want the pasta to stick together, so I need some help with the pasta.

You have to stir the pasta a lot while it is cooking. This way, the pasta does not stick together. After the pasta is done cooking, you need to drain it. Then you should toss the pasta with the pepper and the cheese away.

6. What if I do not have a whisk?

When you do not have a tool, a fork will work. You just have to stir the mixture hard to make the sauce come together.