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. 

Chef’s tip: Creating a simple cheese paste with a little hot water before adding the cheese to the hot pasta it helps preventing the cheese from splitting. Cooking the pasta as if it was a risotto for absorption straight into the pan (or half boiled and half into the pan) it helps retain some of the starch into the dressing helping you achieving the so much praised creaminess.

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

To create the cheese paste simply drop very little hot water into a bowl with the finely grated cheeses and mix with a spatula until you have obtained a grainy paste. Keep on the side.

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 to avoid breaking the spaghetti and continue stirring occasionally as it cooks. By the time the pasta is done, the remaining liquid should already be kind of creamy thanks to the starch released.

Turn off the heat completely, making sure there is at least one ladle of residual water left into in the pan and add gradually the cheese paste 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 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 (and the correct temperature)

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