CACIO E PEPE - CHEESY BLACK PEPPER PASTA

If you go to any trattoria in Rome -- whether expensive, touristy or a hole-in-the-wall -- you'll face the same choice: which pasta dish to get?  In a typical Roman joint, pasta gets served one of four (at most five) ways:  alla carbonara (eggs, grated cheese and pancetta), all'amatriciana (tomato, red pepper flakes, guanciale -- like pancetta), all'arrabbiata (spicy tomato sauce) or al cacio e pepe.

In Roman dialect, cacio means cheese.  Pepe is Italian for black pepper. Traditionally served with spaghetti or tonarelli (a fresh pasta thicker than spaghetti), cacio e pepe is Roman food at its most minimal and delicious.  To prepare this recipe, you simply mix the freshly-cooked pasta (still hot) with grated pecorino romano and a few hefty twists of black pepper.  In order make sure the cheese evenly melts over the pasta, add a ladle of hot pasta water before tossing it all together.

INGREDIENTS:

* 1 - 1.5 cups of finely grated pecorino romano

* 8 oz. of spaghetti cooked

* 1-2 tbs of fresh-ground black pepper

       

          WATCH:   CHEF MARK LADNER DEMOS "CACIO E PEPE"

  
Cook the spaghetti al dente in 3 quarts of salted water.  Once cooked, remove with a slotted spoon, leaving the pasta water still in the pan.  Do not pour the water down the drain.   Transfer the spaghetti to a large sautee / frying pan.  Coat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and ladle in about 1/2 cup to 3/4 of a cup of the hot and starchy pasta water.  Warm the pan with pasta, water and oil over very low heat.

 Now, add both the fresh ground black pepper and grated pecorino to the still-hot pasta.  *Grate the pecorino when the water is coming to a boil -- so you have all of it ready to mix in.*  Quickly, toss the pasta, cheese, water and pepper.  Briefly heat this trio over a low flame until all the cheese has melted.  The starchy water, when mixed with melting cheese, will form a creamy glaze that coats the pasta.  Serve immediately. 

TOMATO SAUCE

INGREDIENTS:

* Extra virgin olive oil
* 2-3 cloves of garlic
* 3 cans (28 oz) of whole plum tomatoes -- I like Trader Joe's or Muir Glen Fire-Roasted
* A handful of fresh basil and fresh parsley
* 1/2 cup - 1 cup of red wine
* Salt / pepper to taste

Sautee 2-3 whole cloves of garlic in 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil; when they start to brown, you can remove them from the oil or leave them in for a "garlickier" sauce.  Add the 3 cans of plum tomatoes to the oil that's been flavored with garlic.  Bring to a boil over medium / high heat, stirring to keep the tomatoes from burning.

Simmer plum tomatoes, olive oil and garlic over medium high heat for 10 minutes. Stir, stir, stir.

Once the sauce has started to thicken, crush any remaining whole tomatoes with a potato masher or
the bottom of a wooden / slotted spoon.  Continue simmering over medium heat while squashing the 'maters.  Crushing the tomatoes will temporarily make the sauce a bit soupy.  Simmer for another 15-20 minutes but now over low heat.  The lower heat helps develop the tomatoes natural sweetness.

If desired, add 1/2 cup to 1 cup of red wine and increase heat to medium.  The sauce should bubble and steam until most of the wine burns off.  For a lighter sauce, keep simmering but don't add any wine. Depending how "wet" you want your sauce, stir-n-simmer for another 5 minutes.  Adjust for salt and pepper.

Remove the sauce from the heat.   Pour half into a food processor and puree.  (DO NOT BLEND BAY LEAVES). Leave the rest of the sauce unblended in the covered pan.  While the sugo is blending, pour in a steady stream of olive oil -- about a quarter cup in total.  The olive oil will help the sauce to emulsify, adding a creaminess and velvety texture to your final sugo.  If you like your sauce with chunks of tomato, skip this step.  You can also add fresh basil or flat-leaf parsley to the puree.  

Combine the pureed sauce with what's in the pan.   The blended sauce will be much "wetter" than the mixture that you don't blend.  For a thicker sauce, simmer once more over medium heat for 5-10 minutes.  For a thinner sauce (good for serving tons of people), mix together and ladle out as is.