Main course
Cacio e Pepe
The two-ingredient Roman classic: cheese and pepper, bound into a creamy sauce by the starchy cooking water.
- Prep
- 5 min
- Cook
- 12 min
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Serves
- 2 servings
Ingredients
- 200g (7 oz) pasta
- 80g (1 cup) Parmesan or Pecorino
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
Cook the pasta in slightly less water than usual, well salted: it’ll be richer in starch.
Toast 1 tsp freshly ground pepper for 1 minute in a large dry pan, then add a ladle of the pasta cooking water.
Finely grate the cheese into a bowl and mix with a few spoonfuls of warm cooking water, to make a smooth paste.
Transfer the drained pasta to the pan, off the heat, add the cheese cream, and stir briskly, adding more cooking water until the sauce coats the pasta.
Serve immediately with a final grind of pepper.