Cacio e Pepe Recipe
Cacio e Pepe – traditional Roman pasta dish. Cacio e Pepe means “cheese and pepper”. This classic Italian pasta requires only 4 ingredients and 20 minutes of work. The result is amazing: creamy, cheesy and rich pasta!
Cacio e Pepe Recipe
4.50 from 20 votes
Prevent your screen from going dark
Prep Time 20 minutes mins
WORK TIME 20 minutes mins
DIFFICULTY Easy
Cuisine Italian
Servings 4 yields
Ingredients
- 200 g 7oz pecorino cheese
- 1 tablespoon peppercorns
- 300 g 10.5oz Pasta
- Salt
Instructions
- DIRECTIONS
- Fill a large pot with about 2.5-3L water. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and bring to a boil.
- Meanwhile grate the cheese and place in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside.
- Toast the peppercorns on a dry pan for about 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a mortar and pestle and crush.
- When the water is boiling, add the pasta and cook 3 minutes less than on the package instructions.
- When pasta is cooked for 5 minutes, place crushed pepper back into the dry pan, add about ½ cup of pasta water and cook. At this stage you also need to prepare cheese paste: to the bowl with the grated pecorino, add 1/2 cup of pasta water and stir until smooth paste forms. Set aside.
- Add the pasta to the pan, then add about 1/2 of pasta water and mix. Cook the pasta this way for 2-3 minutes, add more pasta water as needed.
- Turn the heat off, add the cheese paste and cook, stirring and tossing until all the cheese is melted, combined and creamy.
- Serve immediately!
- When boiling the pasta, don’t use a lot of water. Use just enough water to cover the pasta, that makes the water extra starchy, which helps making extra creamy sauce.
- Some recipes using butter. In traditional cacio e pepe there is no butter, and here is no need to add butter. What makes the sauce thick is the pasta water which has starch and the cheese.
Video
4.50 from 20 votes (20 ratings without comment)