Spaghetti cacio & pepe

Cheese and pepper pasta

You can’t call yourself a true pasta lover if you have never tasted a ‘cacio e pepe’ before! A quintessential roman dish (from Rome) with only 3 ingredients, pasta – cacio (cheese) – and black pepper. A recipe so simple that becomes in fact quite complicated to master with confidence, as there is no space to hide any mistakes!!! 

On this occasion I’ve cut traditionally used Pecorino Romano cheese with some of my favourite Grana Padano Riserva aged over 20 months - for a more rounder and less pungent flavour.

This pasta is generally considered lactose-free. In fact, during the Grana Padano and Pecorino Romano production and aging process, the lactose is broken down into lactic acid by bacteria, resulting in a very low lactose content - typically less than 0.1g per 100g - which is well below the threshold considered safe for most individuals people with lactose intolerance. 

Serves: 4 people // Preparation Time: 10 minutes // Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

400 g thick good quality spaghetti

120 g grated Grana Padano

120 gr grated Pecorino Romano cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

In a large saucepan heat gently heat a tbsp of ground black pepper for about 1 minute. Toast it for 2/3 minutes and then cool the pan down with a ladle of water. Now, if you want to cook the pasta traditionally, drop it into salted boiling water. But if you would like to try the pasta risottata method (cooked like a risotto), add the pasta straight into the saucepan with the pepper and add pour enough hot water to cover it. This method will help you to get a creamy sauce as the pasta starch is retained in the pan rather than lose into the boiling water.

Cook the pasta for the time indicated in on the packet. As with if it was a risotto, add keep adding hot water as you cook, as it gets absorbed. Stir gently for the first 2 minutes as you don’t want to break to avoid breaking the spaghetti and continue stirring occasionally as it cooks. As the spaghetti are cooked By the time the pasta is done, the remaining liquid remaining should already be kind of creamy due thanks to the starch released.

Turn off the heat completely, and make sure you had making sure there is at least one ladle of residual water left into in the pan.

Now, completely off the heat, gradually add the finely grated cheese gradually as you mix while mixing it into the pasta. If the spaghetti becomes too sticky, add a ladle of reserved pasta water - hot but no longer boiling, as high heat will can cause the cheese to split and create lumps) and keep mixing. The cheese, the water and the starch, they will all bind together into a creamy, emulsified sauce with the right movement and care.

Plate immediately in shallow bowls, finish with a last scrunch of black pepper and a sprinkle of grated cheese – and enjoy!