Cacio e Pepe
One of the simplest yet most delicious Italian pasta I know. The name Cacio e Pepe means cheese and pepper. It is known primarily in Rome, the Lazio region, but also in Tuscany and Abruzzo. The roots of making this pasta go back to the 18th and 19th centuries. It is made mainly from three components, which are pasta, mostly spaghetti, which is boiled as usual in water seasoned with sea salt, hard cheese, mostly good quality Pecorino Romano, but good quality parmesan works well, and plenty of freshly ground black pepper.
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Level: Easy
Quantity: for two
Ingredients:
200 g of good-quality spaghetti
About 75 g of finely grated Pecorino Romano cheese
0.5 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
Water and sea salt to cook the pasta
Preparation:
- Cook the pasta according to the manufacturer’s instructions in plenty of water seasoned with sea salt.
- Grate the Pecorino romano cheese with a fine grater, and grind black pepper to the cheese.
- When the spaghetti is ready, put it in a bowl or pan, let stand for a two to three minutes to cool pasta down, add 4-5 tablespoons of pasta cooking water, and add about 1/5 of the cheese and pepper mixture. If using too hot spaghetti clumping of the cheese may occure. Mix well, add the next fifth of cheese, and so on until the end. In the meantime, add the pasta cooking water so that the pasta becomes nicely cheesy and creamy and not dry. When adding the cheese all at once, it is necessary to make a porridge-like mass with cooler water before adding the spaghetti, to which the spaghetti can be quickly added.
- When serving, sprinkle a little Pecorino Romano cheese and black pepper on top.
Ready!!