The pasta “cacio e pepe” is perhaps the most typically Roman recipe. It’s a poor dish.
The “cacio e pepe” comes from the tradition of shepherds, and the list of ingredients is limited: pasta, pecorino romano and pepper. It is a rather simple recipe; the only difficulty is in making the sauce creamy.
Tonnarelli pecorino cheese and pepper
- Preparation time: 90 minutes
- Ingredients for 4 servings
- Difficulty: Average difficulty recipe
- Ingredients
- For pasta:
- 3 eggs
- 200 gr or 7 oz of flour
- 75 gr or 3 oz re-milled semolina
- For the seasoning:
- 110 gr or 4 oz of grated pecorino cheese
- Ground pepper to taste
- Instructions
- Making pasta. On the pastry board, pour the flours, create a hole in the center, and pour the eggs that you will have slightly beaten. Knead until the mixture is smooth and with lots of little holes. Cover with cellophane and let it rest at room temperature for one hour.
- Pull the dough with the dough sheeter up to a thickness of 0 13⁄64 inch. Flour the mixture well and cut into strips of about 0 13⁄64 inch.
- Boil water for pasta in a pot.
- Put the grated pecorino in an aluminum bowl.
- In a small pan, heat the ground pepper and then add it to the pecorino.
- Cook the tonnarelli in unsalted boiling water for about three to four minutes. Drain. Pour into the bowl with the pecorino and ground pepper. With a fork, mix the pasta with the sauce and pour a little cold water until the pecorino becomes creamy.
Tips to ensure the success of the dish:
- In ancient times, the cheese and pepper were seasoned directly on the hot pasta. Today, we like it creamy. This can only be done under two conditions: the temperature to melt the cheese should not be too high and you should quickly mix pasta and seasoning. This trick was taught to me by one of my teachers at the professional cooking school: Chef Andrea Palmieri.
- Spices release scent and flavor when heated. The passage of pepper in the pan is not eliminable.
- To cook pasta ideally, consider 1 liter or 1 US quart of water for every serving.
