Cole’s Cacio e Pepe – Simple, Traditional, Delicious

Recipe First – Cribbed off of Bon Appetit – Click Here – I usually will look at a couple of highly rated recipes to make sure I am not going to make a dummy of myself and that the best techniques are used

Variations: I did not use butter when toasting the pepper, doesnt seem needed but if anyone has some insight it is always appreciated. Didn’t have pecorino and thought parmesan was a similar enough cheese that it would still be great

What really drew me to this recipe was the simplicity as well as the lack of garlic. Really having only three main ingredients intrigued me in a situation that so many dishes have 10, 12, 20+ ingredients, the slightly sacrilegious marriage of pepper, pasta, and parmesan seemed like a great trinity.

Aside: Bringing out the greatness of simple ingredients has become a passion of mine. ANYTHING tastes good with truffle on top of it (truffle oil – which has no actual truffle in it – is a foil in this regard where it can be a little one dimensional, but tastes unbelievable drizzled on fries and many other delights). It takes quite a travesty to make a poor steak and lobster; but how to make a leak shine, or a simple ingredient like pepper is a more fun adventure in my opinion.

Now to the second ingredient prep –

Shredded

So to clarify the process in the gifs going forward – Toast the pepper, add the pasta water, add the pasta, add the cheese, mix like a sailor back from sea and serve. The simplicity is beautiful

Tip I mentioned in another post but your water should taste like the ocean – with that handled I did not add any extra seasoning to the entire dish

Add pasta water to the toasted pepper

Al dente pasta because thats how it rolls

Add pasta water to the parmesan and mix to help in emulsifying once added to the pasta.

I sucked so Nicole had to step in to finish the dish (she is a rockstar at most everything) – The most important part of this process is emulsifying the sauce

Aside – ‘Emulsification is the process of blending two liquids that would otherwise repel each other ― in the case of pasta, it’s oil and water ― into a smooth, inseparable mixture. The starch in your pasta water, as luck would have it, is an emulsifying agent and also a thickener’ – Click Here – Questionable source but the info is sound –

Plating sucked but wholly smokes was the flavour fantastic – a dish we will 100% do again. Still impressed with the classic recipe as well as our self control on not throwing in some garlic into this dish. Nothing was left out, and nothing was needed. Perfection.

Cole Rating: 9/10