philosokitchen

an italian cook around the world

  • Home
  • recipes
    • My Authentic Italian Recipes
    • appetizers
    • pasta rice & Co.
    • entrées
    • sides
    • desserts
    • Soups
    • salads
    • sauces & jarred goods
    • slow cooked
    • FASTER THAN 45 MIN
    • vegetarian
    • vegan
    • gluten free
    • paleo
  • travelogs
    • foodie travels
    • chronicles of italian cooks
  • MERCHANDISING
  • food story
  • ABOUT ME
  • RECIPE DISCLAMER
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • Shop
You are here: Home / Recipes / Faster Than 45 Mins / CACIO E PEPE recipe and history

CACIO E PEPE recipe and history

01/28/2016 by Filippo Trapella 6 Comments

Cacio e pepe recipe is a quick and tasty Roman dish. The origin of this recipe is very ancient. The secret of cacio e pepe is the creamy sauce, obtained combining best quality Pecorino Romano and a few spoons of the water used to cook the spaghetti. The cheese and the starch into the cooking water are the only ingredients to make the original cacio e pepe sauce, forget butter or cream!

CACIO E PEPE recipe and history

If you like my recipes, please give me a +1

a simple action to help the growth of this blog 🙂

cacio-e-pepe

  • 11 oz (320 g) spaghetti
  • 11/4 cups (125 g) Pecorino Romano cheese
  • 4 tsp black pepper, coarsely ground
  • 5 tbsp cooking salt

CACIO E PEPE recipe and history

CACIO E PEPE: THE LEGEND BEHIND THE RECIPE

The cacio e pepe recipe is one of the most ancient dish of the Italian cuisine. The legend date back the origin of this simply but delicious Italian spaghetti and cheese to Roman Empire. For centuries, cacio e pepe has been the perfect meal of the Roman shepherds. Dried pasta, aged pecorino and black peppers are easy-to-carry ingredient and hard to spoil. Despite what many people think, cacio e pepe recipe does not needs any oil, cream or butter. The starch inside the spaghetti and the grated pecorino combined in the right way are enough to create the cacio e pepe sauce. As in many Roman recipes, the pepper have to be very abundant.
CACIO E PEPE recipe and history

CACIO E PEPE RECIPE

First, place a pot with 5 quart of water and the cooking salt on high heat. Grate the Pecorino Romano with the Outward protruding holes with spiky edges on all sides: this because the cheese have to be grated into flakes as small as possible. Now, combine the grated pecorino with black pepper, coarsely ground at the moment. When the water is boiling, pour the spaghetti into the pot. To cook perfectly the pasta, the water have to strongly simmer.

CACIO E PEPE recipe and history

THE CHEESE SAUCE

The secret of the cacio e pepe recipe is the creamy sauce. The worst thing that you can do at your cacio e pepe (and Italian people can’t tolerate!) , is add, butter or cream. To obtain the original cheese cream, follow this steps.

Meanwhile the pasta is simmering, pour the grated pecorino and black pepper into a bowl big enough to contain spaghetti. When the pasta is cooked “al dente”, turn of the heat, and take an half ladle of spaghetti water and combine with cheese and pepper. Beat strongly the cheese with water to obtain the sauce. The cream have to be very smooth but not washy, if necessary add some more tablespoon of cooking water. When the cheese sauce is ready, drain and pour the spaghetti into the bowl and whisk strongly. Finish the dish with fresh grated Pecorino and black pepper, and serve quickly, otherwise the sauce become too thick!

TAKE A LOOK AT THIS

ITALIAN MILK RICE (risotto) with provolone and walnuts

ITALIAN MILK RICE (risotto) with provolone and walnuts

PRINTABLE VERSION

4.0 from 1 reviews
CACIO E PEPE recipe and history
 
Print
Prep time
15 mins
Total time
15 mins
 
Cacio e pepe recipe is a quick and tasty Roman dish. The origin of this recipe is very ancient. The secret of cacio e pepe is the creamy sauce, obtained combining best quality Pecorino Romano and a few spoons of the water used to cook the spaghetti. The cheese and the starch into the cooking water are the only ingredients to make the original cacao e pepe sauce, forget butter or cream!
Author: Filippo Trapella - philosokitchen.com
Recipe type: pasta
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 11 oz (320 g) spaghetti
  • 11/4 cups (125 g) Pecorino Romano cheese
  • 4 tsp black pepper, coarsely ground
  • 5 tbsp cooking salt
Instructions
  1. CACIO E PEPE: THE LEGEND BEHIND THE RECIPE
    The cacio e pepe recipe is one of the most ancient dish of the Italian cuisine. The legend date back the origin of this simply but delicious Italian spaghetti and cheese to Roman Empire. For centuries, cacio e pepe has been the perfect meal of the Roman shepherds. Dried pasta, aged pecorino and black peppers are easy-to-carry ingredient and hard to spoil. Despite what many people think, cacio e pepe recipe does not needs any oil, cream or butter. The starch inside the spaghetti and the grated pecorino combined in the right way are enough to create the cacio e pepe sauce. As in many Roman recipes, the pepper have to be very abundant.
  2. CACIO E PEPE RECIPE
    First, place a pot with 5 quart of water and the cooking salt on high heat. Grate the Pecorino Romano with the Outward protruding holes with spiky edges on all sides: this because the cheese have to be grated into flakes as small as possible. Now, combine the grated pecorino with black pepper, coarsely ground at the moment. When the water is boiling, pour the spaghetti into the pot. To cook perfectly the pasta, the water have to strongly simmer.
  3. THE CHEESE SAUCE
    The secret of the cacio e pepe recipe is the creamy sauce. The worst thing that you can do at your cacio e pepe (and Italian people can’t tolerate!) , is add, butter or cream. To obtain the original cheese cream, follow this steps.
    Meanwhile the pasta is simmering, pour the grated pecorino and black pepper into a bowl big enough to contain spaghetti. When the pasta is cooked “al dente”, turn of the heat, and take an half ladle of spaghetti water and combine with cheese and pepper. Beat strongly the cheese with water to obtain the sauce. The cream have to be very smooth but not washy, if necessary add some more tablespoon of cooking water. When the cheese sauce is ready, drain and pour the spaghetti into the bowl and whisk strongly. Finish the dish with fresh grated Pecorino and black pepper, and serve quickly, otherwise the sauce become too thick!
  4. CACIO E PEPE recipe and history
3.4.3177

 

Filed Under: Faster Than 45 Mins, Food Story, My Authentic Italian Recipes, Pasta, Rice & Co., Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: black, Cacio, cacio e pepe, cheese, entree, italian, italian cheese, maccaroni, pasta, pecorino, pepe, pepper, recipe, recipes, Roman, Romano recipe, spaghetti, traditional

« PASTRY DOUGH RECIPE for tarts and cookies
SAUTEED CREAMY MUSHROOMS with milk and mustard »

Comments

  1. Margie Del Torto says

    05/11/2016 at 1:49 am

    Just like my mother in law use to make soon good

    Reply
    • Filippo Trapella says

      05/16/2016 at 5:11 am

      Thankvyou Margie!

      Reply
  2. Linda Anderson says

    05/16/2016 at 12:15 am

    This looks so good! My italian mother used to make a dish similar to this, but with ricotta in place of the pecorino. It was so good!

    Reply
    • Filippo Trapella says

      05/16/2016 at 5:10 am

      Pasta with ricotta is another classic Italian recipe! You just reminded me a recipe of my childhood: pasta with ricotta, genovese basil and fesh tomatoes sauce. I wonna pubblish it soon, thanks Linda!

      Reply
  3. Niki says

    05/25/2019 at 4:08 am

    Hi. I’d love to try this but l’m not fond of pecorino, would it be possible to substitute parmesan? Thanks.

    Reply
    • Filippo Trapella says

      05/25/2019 at 8:22 am

      Hi Niki,

      Unfortunately is not possible. Parmigiano melt differently.

      Happy cooking 🙂

      F.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Rate this recipe:  

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.



























Newsletter

Copyright © 2019 · Foodie Child Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress