Cacio E Pepe Recipe

Cacio e Pepe, if you don’t know, is a pasta dish made out of spaghetti, cheese and pepper. Sounds simple, but it’s actually a little tricky to make. You need to create a sauce out of these ingredients. Luckily I’ve done this several times and I can show you. It’s worth the effort because this dish is so flavorful!

Watch How To Make It:

Cacio e Pepe is a favourite in our house, mainly because it has few ingredients. It has happened several times that we came back from vacation and we didn’t have much to eat, but we had cheese, pasta and pepper in the pantry.

Here is the written recipe, with the ingredients and step by step instructions:

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Cacio E Pepe

Easy to make at home Cacio e Pepe, an authentic Italian 3-ingredient pasta dish: spaghetti, cheese and pepper. A great dinner for two!

Servings 2 people

Equipment

Pan

Rubber spatula

Ingredients

• 4 oz parmesan cheese (120g)
• 9 oz spaghetti
• black peppercorns

Instructions

• We start by finely grating the parmesan cheese in a small bowl
• Then, in a boiling pot add 20% less water than you usually do for boiling pasta and bring it to a boil. This is important for the sauce because the water needs to have more starch than normal
• Next add a teaspoon of salt and the pasta in the pot. Cook for 2 minutes less than it says on the pasta box
• While that is happening, toast the black peppercorns for 1 minute and then set aside. This will enhance the flavor of the pepper
• Once the spaghetti is ready add 1 and a half ladles of pasta water in a pan over medium heat. Then add the pasta straight from the boiling pot into the pan. Do not drain the water from the pasta because you’ll need it for the sauce
• Grind the peppercorns over the pasta and mix for 30 seconds
• Then add a ladle of the pasta water over the parmesan cheese and mix with a spoon until you get a paste
• Add that over the pasta. Turn off the heat and mix everything together until you get a smooth milky sauce. Basically the parmesan and the starchy water are making the sauce. The parmesan and the pepper are your flavors.

Cuisine: Italian, Mediterranean

Did you make this recipe?

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More Italian Recipes

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