Cacio e Pepe

Three ingredients, where the sauce is made by emulsifying cheese into starchy water off the heat.

Not vegetarian — contains Pecorino Romano made with lamb rennet.

Ingredients

• 400 g tonnarelli or spaghetti
• 200 g pecorino romano, very finely grated
• 2 tablespoons black peppercorns, coarsely crushed
• 2 teaspoons salt, for the pasta water

Method

1. Use LESS WATER THAN USUAL and less salt in it. The water has to end up thick with starch, because that starch is the only emulsifier in the dish — there is no oil, no butter and no cream.
2. Toast the crushed peppercorns in a dry pan for 40 seconds until they smell sharp, then take the pan off the heat.
3. Boil the pasta until a minute short of tender, keeping two cups of the water.
4. Mix the pecorino with about 100 ml of the pasta water in a bowl, working it to a smooth paste with a fork. Let it cool to warm.
5. Drain the pasta and put it in the pepper pan, OFF THE HEAT. Wait a full minute.
6. Now stir the cheese paste through, adding more pasta water a spoon at a time until it coats every strand. OFF THE HEAT THROUGHOUT: pecorino above about 60C seizes into strings in a pool of water, and there is no recovering it. A pan that feels hot to the back of your hand is too hot.
7. Serve at once, with more pepper.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes