How to Make Cacio e Pepe: Only 3 Ingredients in Just 15 Minutes.

Watching TV chefs prepare Cacio e Pepe might make it seem daunting. However, Cacio e Pepe is actually one of the simplest and most budget-friendly Roman dishes. With just spaghetti, cheese, and pepper, you can create this tasty gourmet pasta dish in less than 15 minutes for under $5.

Traditional Roma Cacio de Pepe requires only cheese, spaghetti, and pepper and relies on technique instead of butter and cream. This sensible dish is the ultimate gourmet on a budget—it can feed four people for under $5.

Cacio e Pepe is the most uniquely Roman of pastas and the greatest thing in the history of the world. –Anthony Bourdain

Ingredients

Cheese

The cheese and the ingredients that make the dish are the biggest expense in this dish. A true citizen of Rome will tell you that you need Pecorino Romano cheese to make Cacio e Pepe. That's easy in Rome but not so easy in many parts of the world. Here in Tampa Bay, I have a few options, like the Italian market in St. Petersburg, but the cost of good cheese there is often prohibitive. Most supermarkets carry Romano cheese, but it is cow's milk cheese and not true sheep's milk cheese like Pecorino. I found affordable Pecorino Romano cheese in only two places: Costco and Sam's Club. Sometimes, they have a block of hard cheese, and sometimes it is pre-grated. The good news about the pre-grated cheese is that it contains no additives or anti-caking agents. This means it melts wonderfully. Ultimately, I could only find pre-grated Pecorino Romano at $11/pound in a one-pound container. I am not upset at this. I easily use this much cheese in the 3 months (or more) it will keep. A pound of Pecorino is 4.5 cups grated.

The recipe calls for 1/2 c. of Pecorino and 1/2 cup of Parmigiano Reggiano. This is

because the Pecorino cheese commonly available in the U.S. is too salty to use exclusively in the dish. You get a better result if you mix half Pecorino and half Parmesan.

As for the quality of the cheese, this dish is around $4 for 4 servings with good bronze-cut pasta and real Pecorino and Parmigiano Reggiano. Buy the good cheese if you use a little over a pound in three months. If you don't, you can find a good Parmesan at Aldi for $4 for 8 ounces and an acceptable Romano at Walmart for around the same price. This is cheaper than buying the good stuff at Costco or Sam's, but not that much. I use 1-2 pounds of Pecorino and Parmigiano every 2-3 months, so buying the larger amount works for me. But the big picture: the cheaper cheese still makes a good dish, albeit a less creamy one. Additionally, you may need to add salt.

Pasta

I use spaghetti in this dish, as they do in Rome. I try to use good spaghetti, which is bronze die-cut spaghetti. The pasta is rough, like sandpaper, because it is produced with bronze cutters, unlike Teflon. It makes much starchier water and the sauce "clings" to it in a way that it doesn't with lesser-quality pasta. I used Rao's

spaghetti, the best widely available pasta in American markets, for this dish. This pasta cost me $2.25 per pound on sale at Target and $2.50 at Walmart. Aldi has a good alternative available for around $2 per pound. This is about twice the price of bare-bones economy pasta, but it's worth it in this recipe. As the ingredient photo shows, I use bare-bones economy pasta a lot and if that's all that is available, use that. But if you can find a reasonably priced bronze-cut pasta, do use that. The quality of the pasta is worth an extra $0.50 in this recipe.

Foolproof Cacio e Pepe

Step One - Set Up

Put on around a liter of water in a large frying pan. The secret is to cook the pasta in a modest amount of water so the starch in the pasta water becomes more concentrated. Put another sauté pan on another burner. The two pots should be close together. Get a ladle and a pasta lifter or pair of tongs. Grind around a teaspoon of pepper in a pepper mill or a mortar and pestle. Grate your cheese very finely and keep it near the burner.

Step Two - Cook Pasta and Toast and Sauce Peppercorns

When your pasta water is boiling, but in your spaghetti, set a stopwatch timer. Turn on the second burner to medium and toast the pepper until it starts giving off an aroma. Put a ladle of pasta water from the pasta pot into the pepper sauté pan. Stir the pepper mixture and wait for the water to become thick and start making a sauce. Add another ladle of pasta water as the water evaporates, but keep at a low simmer. Continue stirring.

Step Three - Add Cooked Pasta to Peppercorns

Cook your pasta until it is al dente—around 9 minutes for the type of pasta I'm using. If in doubt, undercook rather than overcook. The package of the pasta you are using should give a time for al dente. When the time is up, use tongs or a pasta fork to scoop up the pasta and put it in the pan with the pepper. It's okay if pasta water transfers with the pasta water. Turn off your pasta water.

Step Four - Stir in Pasta Water

Stir the pasta in the pepper and pasta water. It will become starchy, creamy water. Add another ladle of pasta water. Stir until a thick, even sauce covers the pasta.

Step Five - Take the Pan Off Heat and Wait

When your pasta is done perfectly, and the sauce is thickened, it's time to take your pan off the burner. Wait 2 minutes, stirring the pasta all the time. If it gets dry, add more pasta water.

Step Six - Stir in Cheese and More Pasta Water

Put about 1/4 c. of the cheese and stir until it dissolves into the sauce. Add another

ladle of pasta water. Stir until everything is incorporated. Add another 1/4 c. of cheese, stir until creamy, and add more pasta water, if necessary. Stir until the

mixture is creamy. "Flip" the pan or pull the pasta over on itself with a pair of tongs. Add the remaining cheese and enough pasta water to make a creamy sauce. If you add too much, stir a bit longer. If the pasta sauce becomes dry, add a little more water. Get the mixture the consistency that you like it.

Step Six - Serve Immediately

Serve immediately with more freshly ground pepper and some additional cheese on top.

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