1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for garnish
2 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese, plus more for garnish
kosher salt, to taste
½ cup starchy water (secret ingredient!), save some water when you cook the pasta & set it aside
Instructions
In a hot sauté pan, toast your black pepper.
In a medium pot, bring water to a boil & add the pasta. While the pasta is cooking, add a ladle of water from the pasta to the pan with toasted black pepper.
minutes before the pasta is al dente, add the pasta to the sauté pan & start stirring to have the pasta release the starches. Cook for 2 minutes.
Add the starchy water & keep stirring until the temperature of the pasta goes down a little bit.
Add the cheese when the temperature goes down a little to the saute pan. (Note: If you add the cheese when the pasta is super hot, we will a mozzarella pulling effect & you don’t want that with Cacio e Pepe.)
Keep stirring while adding the cheese until it becomes creamy. Plate the pasta & add more black pepper plus more pecorino. Serve & enjoy!
Supplies
saute pan medium pot measuring cup ladle
Recipe by Public Lives, Secret Recipes at https://publiclivessecretrecipes.com/2020/06/the-best-cacio-e-pepe-recipe.html