Cooking - Cacio e Pepe

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best.
Cacio e pepe (spaghetti with cheese and black pepper) is a classic and has been doing the rounds in the food blogging world for a long time. I've always meant to try it, I was in a lunch rut today and so I gave it a go.



I used a recipe from Smitten Kitchen with linguine and parmesan instead of spaghetti and pecorino.


Serves 1 - easily doubled

1/4 lb linguine
approx 2 oz parmesan
teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
olive oil
knob of butter

Cook your pasta al dente, drain but reserve about 1/4 mug full of cooking water.
Heat olive oil in a pan til nearly smoking, then add your pasta and water (stand back as the water will splatter!). Cook for 30 seconds then add all but a tiny bit of parmesan and all your pepper, then your butter.
Stir to melt butter until a sauce forms.
Serve sprinkled with reserved parmesan.


It was perfectly simple, and not as dry as I expected. And so completely easy to make. I would say you could add things like herbs or chili but I think the best thing about this is the simplicity. Any more and it becomes something else entirely.

I'd definitely like to try this with fresh pasta next time too, i might even make it myself!

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