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.
Prep Time10 minutesmins
Cook Time12 minutesmins
Total Time22 minutesmins
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian-Inspired
Diet: Vegetarian
Keyword: cacio, cacio e pepe recipes, pasta, pepe, spaghetti, tonnarelli cacio e pepe
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.
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.
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. Combine the pecorino in a glass bowl and add a little of the cooking liquid 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.
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 to 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