Cacio e Pepe Spaghetti

Cacio e Pepe Spaghetti (Cheese and Pepper). An ode to simplicity and Italian Cuisine. It is hard to understand how two ingredients can make such a great pasta.

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What is the difference between Cacio and Formaggio?

Yes, you might be thinking: Isn't formaggio the word for Cheese in Italian? The answer is YES!

Cacio is a synonym for il Formaggio: both words mean cheese in Italian; We can use both as the word cacio comes from the Latin word caseus, which is usually translated simply as cheese. So now you might be thinking of casein… and yes, you are right!

The Roman Dish: an Italian favorite

Nothing more and nothing less than cheese and black pepper, simplicity in a dish!

It is not by chance that it became such a staple of Italian Cuisine. Yes, you might say, yes, cheese, of course, who doesn't like cheese, but it is quite an admirable skill to make such a glorious sauce out of only cheese and pepper.

You will make a perfect yet simple dish that will amaze all your family or guests from today.

I owe this dish to Rome's recent visit, where we spent both Christmas and New Year's Eve. So I made it a couple of times and had it in real Roman Trattorias to ensure I hit the sweet spot and used the right pasta.

Ingredients

• Spaghetti thick Spaghetti Nº5 or Nº7 of fresh Tonnarelli
• Pecorino Romano cheese
• Black peppercorns

See quantities and full instructions in the recipe card.

Instructions

The key here is a technique; in fact, to make a truly unique, creamy, and perfectly made Cacio e Pepe you need to know a few tricks. It is not difficult, but the importance is in the details.

• Crush.  Pound the peppercorns with the pestle and mortar.
• Toast crushed peppercorns. Transfer the crushed pepper to a big pan, which will contain all the pasta to finish cooking.
• Boil water. In the meantime, bring a pot of water to a boil, add some coarse salt and add the spaghetti.
• Mix pepper and water. After a couple of minutes of cooking the pasta, when the white foam, which is nothing more than starch, begins to emerge in the water, transfer a couple of spoons of boiling water from the pot into the pan pepper and let the pepper melt slightly.
• Stir in the cheese. So, now is time for the pecorino: combine the pecorino in a glass bowl and add a little water at a time until you get a sort of consistent paste.
• Drain the pasta. Two minutes before the end of cooking, drain the spaghetti and transfer them to the pan with the pepper and finish cooking the spaghetti by adding, if necessary, another ladle of boiling water.
• Cool down. When the spaghetti is cooked al dente, remove the pan from the heat and cool for just about ten seconds. At this point, add the pecorino mixture and whisk, skipping the spaghetti and stirring them quickly. You will see that magically; a nice cream will form that will wrap your spaghetti evenly.
• Serve. At this point, you just have to serve the cheese and pepper on the plates, still hot and creamy, as well as a nice load of pepper.

We liked the one from

Trattoria Maccheroni

Of course, since we live in Italy, we have access to fresh pasta, so we tried it both with thick fresh Tonnarelli or dry pasta. The result is the same in terms of flavor. However, you will experience a change in the texture. So try to go for fresh thick Spagetthi or Dry Spaguetti Nº 7.

For measures, use 3.5 ounces (100 grams) of pasta per person, half the quantity of cheese, and half a tablespoon of black pepper.

What pairs well with cacio e pepe

Cacio e pepe is a fatty dish, so you should try to pair it with a lighter "contorno", or a side dish such as Romanesco Broccoli, simply sauteed with garlic, pepperoncini, and extra virgin olive oil.

Alternatively, you can have it with some roman style artichokes or these fantastic artichokes with dipping sauce.

Wine Pairing

It is in the Wine Culture where you will genuinely find quality wines and support sustainability. For this reason, in this blog, when we recommend wines, we do not want you to go to a supermarket shelf to buy wines for the usual varietals resulting from monoculture. Instead, we recommend wines taking you to the places where they come from. Thus, we advocate for living wines, with Culture, with Terroir.

Is there anything better than eating with cheese? This spaghetti recipe is one of the simplest and also tastiest in the Italian cookbook—cheese and pepper, nothing more.

The spaghetti is then a vehicle for the cheese's flavor, reinforced by the peppery and slightly spicy touch of the black pepper.

The pairing for this dish is relatively simple; of course, overcoming a slight obstacle is a prevalent conviction that red wines accompany cheeses. Furthermore, with a few exceptions, it is a complete mistake.

The cheeses have acidic notes, fermentation flavors that remind us of nuts and spices, herbaceous and floral aromas, and sometimes citrus notes… Are you beginning to notice where these aromas and flavors lead us? To white wine!

Romano Pecorino is a relatively robust hard cheese, and pepper highlights its spicy flavors. These characteristics suggest that our white wine should have something to compensate well for the dish's intense flavors.

A Selection of Three Wines

When choosing wines, if you live in a producing area, always choose local, find out about your producers, the history of your location, and the winemaking practices, and explore all the styles available in your area.

If you do not live in a producing area (or close to one of them), support the specialized stores near you, just as you would support your local farmers' market. Talk to the specialists, ask them about their wine's selection, the wine's origins, their production practices, and the reasons that led to their inclusion in their selection.

With wine, as with any food on our table, it is always good to think about the path it went through before reaching us. It is also essential considering the kilometers and the means of transportation used. Be aware of the carbon footprint of the food and wine you consume, and you will make your small contribution to sustainability.

Pairings

The first pairing is a regional option. A wine from Campania, and one of the most elegant white wines in Italy, a Fiano di Avenillo, a bottle of dry wine with body and roundness on the palate, which evolves very well over time and will undoubtedly add notes of florals and dried fruits that will harmonize perfectly with Cacio e Pepe.

The second pairing is an international option from the New World. A Chardonnay from Santa Barbara County, California. This area produces some fantastic Chardonnays, dry, complex, and without those tropical notes that often characterize other Chardonnays from the American wine regions. This is probably my favorite option for the Cacio e Pepe.

The third pairing is the surprising one, the unexpected one. Here I return to fortified wines, this time in the Manzanilla style. Fino is the driest and freshest style of fortified wines, and at first glance, it looks like an ordinary young white wine. Still, when tasting this wine, you can see its particularity, aging under a veil of yeasts, the "veil of flower," which protects it from oxygen and gives its nutty and spicy well-defined flavors.

In this case, I recommend Manzanilla, which is made in the same style as the rest of the Finos de Jerez, with the difference of having a specific origin, the town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda. An always fun exercise is to taste the three styles of Finos de Jerez:

• the Fino itself from Jerez
• the Manzanilla from Sanlúcar and
• the Fino from Puerto de Santa María.

This is how we playfully do the pairing for the delicious Cacio e Pepe. Chin Chin!

Wine Pairing Recap

• Italian - Dry - Fiano di Avenillo
• Californian - Dry - Chardonnay
• Spanish - Dry - Sherry

More Italian Inspiration?

• Saffron Risotto (Risotto alla Milanesa)
• Lemony Spaghetti
• Roman-Style Artichokes

If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo #ourplantbasedworld on Instagram. Cheers!

Recipe: Cacio e Pepe Spaghetti

Gus

An ode to simplicity and Italian Cuisine. It is hard to understand how two ingredients can make such a great pasta. This recipe will tell you everything you need to know about how it's made, why it's so good, and the best way of making this simple yet delicious.

5 from 13 votes

Print Recipe

Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 12 mins

Total Time 22 mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian, Vegetarian

Servings 4 Servings

Calories 573 kcal

Equipment

• Large Saucepan
• Shredder

Ingredients

 

CupsMetric

 

1x2x3x

• 14 ounces Spaghetti thick Spaghetti Nº5 or Nº7 of fresh Tonnarelli
• 7 ounces pecorino romano cheese freshly grated
• 2 tablespoons black peppercorns

Instructions

 

• Crush. Start with the pepper, which must be strictly in grains. Collect the peppercorns in a mortar. Pound the peppercorns with the pestle and mortar. Do it vigorously and with a rotational rather than vertical motion. The pepper will be ready when it is reduced to a coarse powder. I like to leave some big pieces, so they explode in my mouth as I eat them, but just some.
  2 tablespoons black peppercorns
• Toast crushed peppercorns. Transfer the crushed pepper to a big pan, which will contain all the pasta to finish cooking. Turn on the heat and let the pepper toast.
  2 tablespoons black peppercorns
• Boil water. In the meantime, bring a pot of water to a boil, add some coarse salt and add the spaghetti.
  14 ounces Spaghetti
• Mix pepper and water. After a couple of minutes of cooking the pasta, when the white foam, which is nothing more than starch, begins to emerge in the water, transfer a couple of spoons of boiling water from the pot into the pan pepper and let the pepper melt slightly.
• Stir in the cheese. So, now is time for the pecorino: combine the pecorino in a glass bowl and add a little water at a time until you get a sort of consistent paste. We used 100% pecorino romano; those who do not like the too-strong flavor of pecorino will be able to break it up with ground Parmesan. What’s important here is that the Parmesan is also aged enough because it will tend to make the ball and spin when you go to stir the dish if it is too fresh.
  7 ounces pecorino romano cheese
• Drain the pasta. Two minutes before the end of cooking, drain the spaghetti and transfer them to the pan with the pepper and finish cooking the spaghetti by adding, if necessary, another ladle of boiling water.
  14 ounces Spaghetti, 2 tablespoons black peppercorns
• Cool down. When the spaghetti is cooked al dente, remove the pan from the heat and cool for just about ten seconds. At this point, add the pecorino mixture and whisk, skipping the spaghetti and stirring them quickly. You will see that magically; a nice cream will form that will wrap your spaghetti evenly.
• Serve. At this point, you just have to serve the cheese and pepper on the plates, still hot and creamy, as well as a nice load of pepper.

Notes

Wine Pairing by our Sommelier Ramón Barreiro @pejo_barreiro

• Italian - Dry - Fiano di Avenillo
• Californian - Dry - Chardonnay
• Spanish - Dry - Sherry

 

Nutrition

Calories: 573kcalCarbohydrates: 79gProtein: 29gFat: 15gSaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 52mgSodium: 602mgPotassium: 330mgFiber: 4gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 233IUCalcium: 571mgIron: 2mg

Keyword cacio, pasta, pepe, spaghetti

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Food safety

We sometimes take for granted that we have years (or decades) of cooking experience that the average visitor may not. Add to, or remove from, the list below with health and safety tips.

• Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
• Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
• Wash hands after touching raw meat
• Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
• Never leave cooking food unattended
• Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
• Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove

See more guidelines at USDA.gov.

The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full Nutritional Disclosure here.

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