Cacio e Pepe
Makes: 4 servings
Time: 20 minutes
This is one of the simplest and best pasta recipes I can think of. Rather than cooking a sauce, you just vigorously stir everything together in a big bowl. Good all the time (even for breakfast), but especially at midnight.
Ingredients
- Salt
- 1 ½ cups finely grated pecorino Romano, plus more for dusting the completed dish
- 1 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
- 1 tablespoon ground black pepper, plus more for finishing the dish
- ¾ pound tonnarelli or other long pasta like linguine or spaghetti
- Good olive oil
Instructions
1. Put a pot of salted water on to boil. In a large bowl, combine the cheeses and black pepper; mash with just enough cold water to make a thick paste. Spread the paste evenly in the bowl.
2. Once the water is boiling, add the pasta. The second before it is perfectly cooked (taste it frequently once it begins to soften), use tongs to quickly transfer it to the bowl, reserving a cup or so of the cooking water. Stir vigorously to coat the pasta, adding a teaspoon or two of olive oil and a bit of the pasta cooking water to thin the sauce if necessary. The sauce should cling to the pasta and be creamy but not watery.
3. Plate and dust each dish with additional pecorino and pepper. Serve immediately.
—Recipe published in The New York Times
Chickpeas Cacio e Pepe with Charred Broccolini
The recipe for chickpeas oven-baked in a parmesan-laced broth comes from the new book by Ottolenghi, Ottolenghi Test Kitchen. For me, it’s a recipe made with pantry staples (I’ve been saving those flavorful rinds for something just like this) and very little prep work. It’s not one that I can decide to make 15 minutes before dinner but the lingering roast in the oven perfumes the house in a way that has me dreaming of Italy.
I only made a few adjustments to the original recipe. I added salt in the beginning and took the direction of 1-2 rinds quite loosely and added more like 3-4 with zero regret. Ottolenghi tops his with chili spiked sautéed spinach but I had broccolini on hand so there you go.
4 tbsp olive oil, divided
8 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1-2 parmesan rinds (60g), plus 3/4 cups/ 80g finely grated parmesan
1 1/2 cups / 300g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight in plenty of water and 1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking soda
Salt and black pepper
7 tablespoons / 100 g unsalted butter
1 bunch broccolini
1 small lemon
1/4 teaspoon chili flake
Heat the oven to 350F
Put two tablespoons of oil in a large, high-sided, ovenproof saute pan for which you have a lid, and place on a medium-high heat. Once hot, add the garlic and cook for about 90 seconds, until it’s fragrant and just starting to colour. Add the parmesan rinds, drained chickpeas, baking soda, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 5 cups 1.2 litres water and a very generous amount of coarsely cracked black pepper (at least one teaspoon). Bring to a boil, skimming off any scum that rises to the surface as it does so, then cover and transfer to the oven for an hour and 15 minutes. Give the pot a good stir then cook for another 30 minutes, until the chickpeas are very soft and the liquid has reduced by about half.
When the chickpeas are done, remove the lid and, while they’re still hot from the oven but not on any heat source, add a quarter of the butter cubes and about 15g grated parmesan, stirring until the butter has melted into the sauce. Repeat, adding a quarter more of the butter and 15g parmesan each time, until you’ve used up all the butter and 60g cheese. Finally, add another very generous grind of coarsely ground black pepper.
At this point you want the chickpeas to be so tender they are nearly falling apart and the broth has become a thickened sauce that coats the whole pot.
Set aside and keep warm while you prepare the broccolini.
A large cast iron pan is best for this.
Zest the lemon then cut in half. In the dry pan set over medium-high heat sear the lemon for 2 – 3 minutes until blackened on the cut flesh. Using tongs remove the lemon from the pan and set aside. Add the broccolini in a single layer to the pan and let char, 3 – 4 minutes before flipping and repeating the process on the other side for another 2 – 3 minutes. Once deeply charred add the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, a good squeeze from the charred lemons (you may start with half the lemon and taste. I used the whole lemon and loved it but Roman’s face was puckering), chili flakes, and a hefty pinch of salt. Cook until tender.
Transfer the warm chickpeas to a serving bowl or platter then top with the charred broccolini. Sprinkle the lemon zest over all of it and if you’re feeling so inclined, finish with even more grated Parmesan.
A Culinary Roman Empire’s Next Conquest? Manhattan.
The influential Roscioli family — purveyors of some of the best food in Italy — is finally bringing its buzzy pastas to the New World.
We’re not restaurant chefs here. We’re ambitious home cooks with a lot of responsibilities that impinge on the pursuit of perfection. We need hacks, tips, advice, techniques that deliver consistent success. And boy howdy has Julia Moskin delivered one of those this week as part of her reporting on the Roscioli family, which is bringing an outpost of Roscioli, its storied restaurant in Rome, to SoHo in Manhattan.
In the course of her work, Julia secured the family’s recipe for cacio e pepe (above). Cacio e pepe is a fantastic dish, but it can be a scary one, too: the sauce too clumpy, or not emulsified enough. The Rosciolis avoid both issues with a premade “crema” of cheeses, black pepper, and water that adds very little time to the preparation and as much as guarantees the consistent success of the dish.
