Cacio e Pepe
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Cacio e pepe, a classic Italian dish, relies on starchy pasta cooking water to form a creamy emulsion with butter and cheese, often Parmigiano Reggiano and Pecorino Romano, and it couldn’t be more delicious or simple. I like simple right now.
This one comes from YouTube star Laura Vitale, and her cookbook, Laura in the Kitchen, which is filled with recipes influenced by her southern Italian roots, and most especially, her nonna, who makes many a guest appearance on her show: Nonna’s stuffed peppers, Nonna’s stuffed calamari, Nonna’s spaghetti and clams. When Laura felt homesick after moving to the US at age 12, her nonna told her to “cook a pot of sauce,” which she did, and which instantly made her feel better. She’s been cooking ever since, and in 2009 launched her YouTube show, Laura in the Kitchen, which now includes over 850 cooking tutorials.
UPDATE: GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED: I have emailed you: Peg, Aaron, Peter, Anne and Nancy. Clarkson Potter generously passed along 5 copies of Laura in the Kitchen for the giveaway! Leave a comment to enter. Tell me your favorite easy thing to make right now.
Cacio e Pepe
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings
Description
Source: Laura in the Kitchen by Laura Vitale
Note: I salted the water with 2 teaspoons of kosher salt because I was nervous about the finished dish being too salty since you use 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid. I added more salt to taste at the end.
Ingredients
- 12 oz. dried spaghetti or linguini
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
- 1 teaspoon freshly crack black pepper or more or less to taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of generously salted (see notes above) water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook 2 minutes fewer than the package recommends. Drain the pasta, reserving about 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water.
- Return the starchy cooking water to the pot. Add the butter and cheeses and cook over low heat until butter melts and cheese and water emulsify into a sauce. Add the pasta and pepper and toss to coat. Taste, adding more salt and pepper to taste. Remove pan from heat. Cover. Let stand for 1 minute, then serve.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
144 Comments on “Cacio e Pepe”
My favorite simple dish at the moment is an “open-face” omelet – whisk eggs with a little milk, pour into a buttered non-stick skillet over medium heat and cook. When the eggs are set, add a little cheese and some chopped grape tomatoes, cover and until the cheese melts. The whole process takes about 5 minutes.
My quick/easy thing lately is just couscous cooked with chicken broth, with whatever veggies are in the freezer and maybe some raisins for sweetness.
Please don’t laugh at me. My excuse is it’s the holiday season and everyone’s schedule is shot, but I admit that my lazy default is a huge salad with enough cottage cheese and store-bought rotisserie chieken meat to qualify it as a meal. I can make enough for two or three days, and nobody has to interrupt my holiday baking to heat something up. I really can cook, I promise, but baked goods take precedence right now.
This recipe is going to liven up our dinner rotation quite a bit. You reminded me that my Mom used to make the American version of this (macaroni with butter, salt, and pepper) when I was sick.
drippy egg over leftovers!!
Cheesy omelettes.
For the past two nights I have made the same thing: a rich marinara (with chopped up leftover pepperoni from a pizza night) for spaghetti. So simple, delicious, and most importantly, no trip to the grocery store.
I love to make an easy, fast stir fry!
nothing screams comfort to me more than instant noodles with a poached egg..love all the saltiness of the noodles with the rich gooey yolk
I found one realllllllyyy old box of Kraft mac & cheese in the back of the cupboard last night… it didn’t taste 100 percent, but, it was so incredibly fast to make and clean up, and that’s what I need this month with Christmas shopping and long days at work! We’ve been doing a lot of just cheese & baguette, or making a big pot of soup to eat all week, or a pot of beans, too. Also working on cleaning out the pantry to start off 2016. This cacio e pepe looks so so much better than Kraft, though, so I’m sure it’ll get made in the next week!
Popcorn with olive oil and salt and a Mexican made Coke with lime, lots of ice.
Always simple and good – another pasta dish. Cooked pasta with olive oil, fresh garlic and basil, and fresh tomatoes diced……………… Fresh, easy and very tasty. Add some French bread or some garlic toast and even better.
My mother-in-law shared an easy recipe for Tortellini Soup that includes tomatoes and fresh spinach, which lend it some festive color. It is perfect cold weather food and so quick.
Vegetable soup from the freezer I made a few months ago!
Favorite easy thing: quinoa and veggies, with some feta on top. Filling and easy, and infinitely repeatable without getting too tired of it!
My favorite fast food has become Stracciatella Soup. All you need is broth, eggs, cheese an spinach. Nice piece of crusty bread. Whips up in 20 mins.
One pot pasta with chickpeas. Just dump everything in a pot and let it do its thing
Joe’s Special – a quick one pan dish and I always have some frozen ground meat/sausage and spinach in the freezer. Cook up the meat with onions and garlic and mushrooms; add the thawed spinach; add a couple of eggs. When it’s ready pop under the broiler with some cheese and tomato slices on top.
A simple roast chicken and roasted vegetable.
While the cook and send wonderful aromas through the house, I can get other things accomplished.
Great give-away!
a cheese platter. So easy and so yummy!
This looks like a wonderful dish to try.
My favorite easy thing – Chicken Teriyaki with steamed rice. Yum!
Thanks so much for the giveaway!
Pumpkin soup with Long pie pie pumpkin from the freezer. Sweat some leeks, add splash white wine, broth, simmer. Puree with immersion blender . Add cream. Lunches for all week.
Right now I’m on a frittata kick. Eggs plus anything I can find in the fridge equals easy lunch.
My quick fav: To freshly cooked pasta add:
3 crushed cloves garlic
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano
juice from one lemon
olive oil to taste
salt/pepper
One pot pasta with veggies from my CSA.
Pasta with lots of chopped herbs, olive oil, freshly grated cheese and jus-toasted breadcrumbs!
An equally satisfying, quick and easy pasta dish: Spaghetti Aglio e Olio (garlic and olive oil). It takes only 10 minutes to prepare the sauce, while the spaghetti is cooking. Just sauté in olive oil lots of garlic, add some red pepper flakes and minced parley and when the pasta is ready add it to the skillet, along with some cooking water. A generous sprinkle of freshly grated parmesan cheese, some more olive oil and dinner is ready!
This sounds fantastic! We have been living on baked eggs with a dash of cream sprinkled with thyme for the past month in-between the travel and holiday festivities.
Going to try this tomorrow!
One of my go-to easy meals is penne pasta with an olive oil, pepper flakes, Peccorino Romano, lots of pepper, and garlic powder sauce. Mix together and splash with lemon juice at the very end, a little dollop of butter if I’m feeling particularly decadent.
If I have some leftover veggies in the fridge, I add them in. For sure comfort-food, with often very little nutritional value…but hey, for occasionally, it’s fine!
Also, toasting store-bought naan with cheese under the broiler, and adding smashed avocado with a bit of salt and pepper. (if feeling “fancy”, I smash the avocado with a bit of lime juice and Worchestershire sauce, a tiny pinch of garlic and onion powder)
I’ve been finishing up some soup that I had frozen which is about as easy as it gets.