Cacio e Pepe
Roman Pasta with Pecorino and Black Pepper
Cheese and pepper, and nothing else but pasta and the water it cooked in. It is the simplest list in Roman cooking and the easiest dish to ruin: too much heat and the pecorino seizes into rubbery lumps. The cream has to be made in a bowl, away from the stove.
The Italian recipe read toasts and crushes the peppercorns, mixes them with finely grated aged pecorino in a bowl, and whisks in half a ladle of pasta water to make a cream while the pasta is still cooking. The drained pasta is tossed with it off the heat. Its warning is that too much heat makes the cheese clump.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 400 g spaghetti or tonnarelli
- 120 g aged pecorino romano, very finely grated
- 2 tsp black peppercorns (about 5 g)
- 1 tsp coarse salt, for the pasta water
Method
- Toast the pepper Toast the peppercorns in a dry pan over a medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes until fragrant, then crush them coarsely. Put them in a large bowl with the pecorino.
- Cook the pasta Boil the pasta in less water than usual, about 2 litres, with the salt, so that the water is cloudy with starch. Cook until just al dente.
- Make the cream Two minutes before the pasta is ready, take half a ladle of its water (about 60 ml), let it cool for 30 seconds and whisk it into the cheese and pepper until you have a thick, smooth cream.
- Toss off the heat Lift the pasta into the bowl with tongs, bringing some water with it, and toss hard for 1 minute, adding a spoonful more water if needed, until every strand is coated in a glossy sauce. Serve at once on warm plates.
Grate the cheese on the finest side of the grater. Coarse shreds do not melt smoothly.
Water just off the boil, not boiling, is what keeps the cheese from seizing.