*Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe

Delicious, and quick. But not simple.

Having being disappointed by the Cacio e Pepe we had in Italy (particularly not enough pepper (which IMHO should a predominant ingredient if it is in the name), too salty and/or lumpy), I thought I would try my hand at it.

The method for “Recipes from Italy” is the best recipe I have come across. https://www.recipesfromitaly.com/spaghetti-cacio-e-pepe-recipe/

It was sensational. My only comment is that as spaghetti normally cooks for 9 minutes in boiling water, and the recipe calls for taking out the pasta after 5 minutes, and cook the pasta for the remaining time in the pepper water on low, is that it takes a lot more than a further 4 minutes to cook the pasta al dente. It is a bit like cooking risotto you keep adding ladels of paster water, and the pasta seems to absorb the water. Probably took about 8 minutes in the pepper water to reach al dente.

5 ingredients. For 2:

175 g Pasta (usually dried spaghetti as that’s what the roman shepherds carried);
110 g Pecorino Romano DOP (plus some more for topping)
7 g Whole Black Peppercorns (plus more for topping)
1/4 tsp Salt, and
875 ml Water (N.B. this is about half the quantity of water, one would normally cook pasta in).

Steps:

Smash the peppercorns. I used a pestle.
Toast the smashed peppercorns in a large frypan.
Par boil the pasta in lightly salted water. Respect the reduced quality of water as you want the starchy water.
Add some pasta water to the peppercorns, and then the parboiled pasta.
Finely grate the pecorino and add 1/2 cup of water to the cheese to make a paste.
Gradually add more pasta water (like cooking a risotto) to the pasta. I used all the remaining pasta water to achieve al dente status.
Turn off the heat and gradually stir in the cheese paste.
Serve with more grated pecorino and black pepper.
Do not add Butter, Oil or Cream!.
Enjoy.