Cacio e Pepe
Three ingredients, one of which is water, and yet it humbles people nightly. Get the pan off the heat at the right moment and you get glossy peppery silk instead of a cheese-flavoured tragedy.
- Total time
- 13 min
- Serves
- 2
- Effort
- Medium
What you need
Written for 2 — nudge the counter and the numbers follow.
0 of 5 in the basket.
How you make it
Boil the pasta in a small amount of well-but-lightly-salted water, about 1.2 litres, so the cooking water ends up properly starchy. Cook 1 minute under the packet time.
While it cooks, toast the cracked pepper in a wide pan with the olive oil over medium heat for 45 seconds until fragrant, then add a ladle of pasta water and let it bubble.
Mix the grated pecorino with 4 tbsp of hot pasta water in a bowl to a smooth, thick paste like wet plaster; add water a teaspoon at a time if it is stiff.
Drain the pasta, reserving a mugful of water, and toss it in the peppery pan for 30 seconds off the heat so the pan drops below a simmer.
Add the cheese paste and toss hard, loosening with splashes of pasta water, until the sauce turns glossy and coats every strand. Serve straight away with more pepper.
Read all that and thought “absolutely not”?
Completely fair. Cacio e Pepe is sitting in the Italian kitchen right now, it costs nothing, and it will never arrive.
Order it insteadMore from the Italian kitchen
Four ingredients, zero compromises, endless opinions.