Pasta, Caccio E Pepe
Pasta with cheese and black pepper from Italy's Lazio region. Two ingredients, one big dish
Ingredients
- 1/2 -3/4 pounds tornarelli, spaghetti or macaroni I always use wholemeal
- 1 cup freshly grated pecorino or parmigiano or your favourite aged HARD cheese
- 15 black peppercorns
- salt
Instructions
grate the cheese
- divide your grated cheese between two bowls
cook the pasta
- follow the instructions on the packet using half the recommended amounts of salt and water
- optionally boil some water in a small pan and have it simmering in case you run out of pasta water!
- Cook the pasta till al dente but still a bit hard: you'll be stealing about 3-4 minutes from the recommended cooking time
prepare the pepper
- while the pasta is cooking coarly crush the whole peppercorns in a mortar and pestle
- when the pasta water starts to look gloopy put the crushed peppercorns in a dry large frying pan and toast on medium heat for a few seconds to just release the aromas
- add a ladleful of pasta water to the pepper and cook on high heat for 2 minutes. This will release the pepper's aromatic oils into the water
emulsify the cheese, pepper and water
- add the hot peppered water to half the cheese in a bowl, stirring vigiriusly to achieve a thin cream. While still hot add the relmaining cheese. If the resulting cream is too thick add spme more of the pasta water to achieve the consistency of thick double cream
finish the dish
- transfer the pasta to the frying pan you used for the pepper along with a couple of ladle-fuls of pasta water
- add the cheese-pepper emulsion in 3-4 stages, tossing the pasta contiuouslty. Add more pasta water to thin out if necessary and cook for 2-3 minutes until the pasta is cooked al dente and the emulsion is creamy and smooth. If if looks over sticky add a tiny bit more water, but careful!
- Serve immediately
