Cacio e Pepe
Lazio · pasta · serves 4 · 20 min total · medium
Shepherds' food made urban: pecorino, pepper, dried pasta — what a Lazio shepherd could carry into the hills.
Ingredients
- 400 g tonnarelli or spaghetti
- 200 g Pecorino Romano, finely grated
- 2 tbsp black peppercorns, coarsely cracked
- 1 tbsp salt for pasta water
Method
- Bring water to a boil — use less than usual (so the water gets very starchy). Salt lightly; the pecorino is already salty.
- Toast cracked pepper in a wide dry pan over medium heat for 30 seconds until aromatic. Add a ladle of pasta water and let it simmer.
- Cook pasta to al dente, but pull it out 90 seconds early. Reserve plenty of pasta water.
- In a bowl, mix grated pecorino with a small splash of cool pasta water — work into a thick, lump-free cream with a fork.
- Toss the pasta into the pepper-water pan over low heat. Add more pasta water as needed to keep it loose and starchy.
- Kill the heat. Wait 30 seconds for the pan to cool slightly. Add the pecorino cream and toss vigorously, stretching the cheese with the starch into a glossy sauce.
- Serve at once. The sauce must cling, not pool. If it splits, the pan was too hot.