Another one of The Two Guys’ New Year’s Resolutions is to cook more using recipes from the various magazines to which they subscribe. Today, we chose “Cacio e Pepe” (Pasta with Pecorino Romano and Black Pepper) from the January/February 2010 edition of Cook’s Illustrated. At first blush, we had flashbacks of clumped Pecorino Romano and thought, “Why bother?” But as we read the article, it became apparent that the genesis of the article was to make a pasta with Pecorino Romano sauce that did not clump. We were intrigued. So we grated up three cups of
Romano cheese.
Grating Cheese
Not the cheap, knock-off store-bought domestic stuff. We mean the real imported Pecorino Romano cheese – hard, aged sheep’s milk cheese with the distinctively pungent and salty flavor that is found nowhere else.
The recipe called for two cups of finely grated (for the sauce):
Grating Cheese
and one cup coarse (for the garnish).
To the finely-grated cheese, we added about one teaspoon medium-coarse ground pepper:
Medium Coarse Pepper
The recipe called for finely-ground black pepper, but The Two Guys like the bite and flavor of chunks of black pepper.
We sliced a baguette in half:
Fresh Bread
Then put some sun dried tomatoes, garlic, basil and olive oil into a food processor:
Sun Dried Tomatoes, Garlic, Basil and Olive Oil
Pureed:
Pureed
And spread on the bread:
Use Your Clean Hand to Spread
Before it went into a hot oven, we sprinkled on a bit of the Romano and parsley:
Romano and parsley
After we cooked a pound of angel hair pasta in only eight cups of water, we drained it and reserved the (starchy) water:
Al Dente Angel Hair Pasta
Then we whisked together the finely-grated cheese and one cup of the reserved water:
Whisk the Water & Cheese
Then we added just a tiny bit of olive oil, heavy cream, water, and whisked some more:
Whisk More
Then we poured it on the pasta:
Mixing with the Pasta
And tossed it all together:
Tossing with Angel Hair
Then plated up and garnished with the coarsely-grated Romano.
Enjoy!
We ended up trying three different bottles of wine – a Pinotage, a Chianti, and a 2006 Foxen Pinot. We ultimately chose the Foxen to drink with the dish. Why? Because the wine’s woodsy flavor which overlayed blackberries and raspberries, was the best match to the musty cheese and spicy pepper. The berries in the wine cut through the fat in the sauce.
True to the article’s promise, the sauce did not clump – even after sitting on the plate for ten minutes. Kudos to Cook’s Illustrated.
The Two Guys have found another favorite dish.
Until next time . . .
P.S. Here’s the recipe as it appears in Cook’s Illustrated:
6 ounces Pecorino Romano – 4 ounces finely grated (about 2 cups) and 2 ounces coarsely grated (about 1 cup)
1 pound spaghetti
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 ½ teaspoons finely ground black pepper
1. Place finely grated Pecorino in a medium bowl.
2. Bring 2 quarts of water to boil in large pot. Add pasta and 1 ½ teaspoons salt. Cook until al dente. Drain pasta into colander set in bowl, reserving cooking water. Pour 1 ½ cups of cooking water into measuring cup.
3. Slowly whisk 1 cup reserved pasta water into finely grated Pecorino until smooth. Whisk in cream, oil and black pepper. Gradually pour cheese mixture over pasta, tossing to coat. Let pasta rest one to two minutes, tossing frequently, adjusting consistency with remaining ½ cup of pasta water. Serve with grated Pecorino.
Click here for a link to the recipe.
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