Cacio e Pepe
2010-08-23
Chris Shenton

Saw an episode of Bourdain's No Reservations set in Rome and liked the
simplicity of this pasta with pecorino and pepper. They served it in a
parmesan frico as a flourish.

These recipes seem correct, it's a minimalist dish:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Spaghetti-with-Pecorino-Romano-and-Black-Pepper-107801

This one too:

http://ricette.giallozafferano.it/Spaghetti-Cacio-e-Pepe.html

This one suggests adding olive oil to the pan before re-placing the
pasta, but if you added the water first it might not need that:

http://www.illcookifyoucleanup.com/2010/08/cacio-e-pepe.html

2010-08-23 For two people:
12 ounces fresh egg pasta with Caputo 00 Pasta/Gnocchi
3/4 Cup	finely microplaned, snowy pecorino
1 Tbs black pepper
about 3/4 Cup reserved pasta water

* much of the cheese clumped instead of forming a sauce
* the fresh pasta broke up with my vigorous stirring

Next time:
* spread pasta, sprinkle evenly with cheese, pour hot pasta water
  over? make sauce of just pasta water and cheese then add pasta?
* use factory hard pasta

2011-01-15 Food and Wine magazine, for two people:

This one came from
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/spaghetti-cacio-e-pepe and I'm
scaling it for 1/2 pound of pasta, enough for two people as a main
course unless they're ravenous. I needed more than the 1/2 cup pasta
water specified in the original, larger recipe.

The idea seems to be that you want the cheeses to deconstruct with the
hot pasta water so that they form a creamy sauce, not a rubber ball.

1/2	pound	commercial pasta (gemeli, rotini, spaghetti, etc)
1/2	cup	freshly grated Pecorino Roman Cheese
1/4	cup	freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
2/3	Tbs	coarsly ground Black Pepper
	taste	Salt

Cook pasta until al dente.
Reserve 1C of the starchy pasta water.
Drain pasta, and return to pot.
Add 2 Tbs water and some Cheese, toss well, ensuring cheese thins down
to coat pasta instead of clumping into rubbery masses; a silicon
spatula helps here.
Alternate water and cheese, adjusting water to get a saucey
consistency.
Add Black Pepper and toss to distribute.
Adjust Salt.
Serve.