| By: Layla Wofsy |
Rome isn’t just famous for Il Colosseo or the La Fontana di Trevi, it is also known for delicious Cacio e Pepe. Like most popular Italian pasta dishes, Cacio e Pepe, is a simple, but delicious, primo piatto that consists of only three main ingredients: spaghetti, Pecorino Romano cheese, and black pepper. This is definitely a dish that you will dream about.
Ingredients
Yield: 3 servings
1 and 1/2 cups of spaghetti (we used linguine)
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup freshly grated pecorino cheese
Salt
Cooking Instructions
Fill up your pot half-way with water.
Salt your water and boil it for about 7 minutes.
Once water is boiled, cook your spaghetti until it is al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, grate your pecorino cheese until it has a dust consistency.
Once the pasta is firm, do not drain it completely, but transfer the spaghetti into a hot bowl.
Add in your grated pecorino and ground pepper, and a ½ cup of the cooking water from the pasta, then mix it all in with the pasta until you get a sauce consistency. If the cheese gets clumpy, you can add more of the pasta water to the bowl.
Sprinkle on some more of the pecorino cheese on top of the dish.
Serve while it is hot.
Notes
Spaghetti is typically used, but you can also use pici pasta. Short and wide pasta should not be used.
Some recipes call for parmesan cheese, which has better-melting properties; however, it is recommended to avoid using parmesan as a substitute because it will not imitate the sharpness of pecorino cheese
The Pecorino Romano cheese should ideally be aged about eight months.
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