Cacio e Pepe - Black Pepper Pasta

As much as I love to cook, I REALLY enjoy going out to eat.  It's inspiring to me and sparks my creativity. It is what ultimately drove me to start learning how to cook in the first place.

Olive oil, Black pepper, Pecorino
Romano and pasta are all you need!

I discovered this particular gem several years ago when my husband took me out for a date night on Taylor Street in Chicago.  Davanti Enoteca is one of those restaurants that just makes you feel special.  It's not super fancy - the food is actually rustic Italian - but the vibe just makes you forget about all your worries while you eat amazing food, drink delicious wine and of course enjoy spending quality time with the ones you love.  The place always seems to be brimming with other happy people enjoying themselves too.

It was on that particular snowy winter evening that I discovered this dish, and my life has never been the same. As soon as I ate it, I knew it was going to make my top 10 all-time favorite dishes.  Sometime soon I will have to share what the other nine are, but for now let's just focus on this pasta!

My mortar and pestle was a recent
Christmas gift and I love finding
new ways to use it.

So, what is this dish that changed my life, you ask?  Its called Cacio e Pepe, or black pepper pasta. "Cacio e Pepe" means "cheese and pepper" in Italian.  And as you might suspect based on it's name, the ingredients are simply black pepper and cheese.  Pecorino Romano to be exact.  I absolutely adore black pepper.  I think it is a pretty underrated flavor profile so when I first saw this dish on the menu I was intrigued.

On a more recent visit to Davanti, we decided to sit at at the bar and order some drinks rather than sit at a table.  That is another great tip for trying new places by the way!  Instead of fighting for a reservation or sitting at a table, just pull up a barstool and try out some dishes in the more relaxed setting.  Casual conversation with the bartender and other patrons is the all part of the experience in my opinion.

Grind to your desired consistency.
It really brings the dish to life
if you grind it yourself.

So when the bartender came over to take our order,  I told him I had been dreaming about this dish and had been looking forward to ordering it all day.

He smiled knowingly and relayed a story for us - - He said one evening he was waiting tables and an Italian family came in.  The couple's parents were in town, and joining them for dinner; they were from Italy.  As the group was deciding what to order, the father asked him what ingredients they used to make their Cacio e Pepe.  The bartender replied, Olive oil, Black Pepper and Pecorino Romano.

"So you don't use egg?" the man further inquired in a questioning tone.  Not wanting to misspeak, (he said the man was pretty serious about the whole situation) the bartender said he would go confirm the preparation with the chef.  Sure enough, the answer came back from the kitchen, and to the clear satisfaction of the father, they indeed did not use egg.   "In Rome," he said,  "no self-respecting Italian would make it any other way. If you use anything else, it isn't Cacio e Pepe."  He ordered the dish and to the relief of the poor bartender, it received his 'authentic' Italian stamp of approval.

I just love that story!  They really take their pasta seriously in Italy! :)

Be sure and salt that pasta water!!

Our bartender went on to tell us that he made a point to learn how the chefs prepare the dish as well.  He in turn relayed the technique to me, and now I'm going to share it with you.  And hey, if it satisfied an Italian from Rome, surely it is good enough for us too?!

Since this entire dish has four total ingredients, it is important that they are the highest quality you can find.  For such a simple dish there is apparently a lot of controversy about the correct way to make it.   I wanted to replicate the preparation from the restaurant as closely as possible, so I used a mortar and pestle to grind up the peppercorns.  The black pepper is the star of the show here, and is being used as a main ingredient.

If you don't have a mortar and pestle you could place the peppercorns in a zip-top baggie and use the back of a heavy skillet to crush them to your desired consistency.  Or use the coarsest grind setting on your pepper mill.  You want the pieces to be a bit larger than you might normally use, but not so large that if someone bites into the pieces of pepper it will be unpleasant.

Freshly grated Pecorino Romano! 

So, here is the process you need to follow to make this dish.  It goes really fast, so pay attention!  Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook your pasta just until al dente.  I actually cooked mine a few minutes less than what the package called for because you are going to continue to cook it in the sauce and you don't want overcooked pasta.  I used Bucatini, which is a straw-like pasta that is shaped like thick spaghetti but is hollow in the center.  If you can't find it, you can use fettuccine or spaghetti.  

While your pasta is cooking, heat up the oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat.  Add in your cracked pepper and let it sauté for just a couple of minutes.  Then, using tongs, remove your cooked pasta and place it right into the skillet with the oil and pepper.  Stir it around to coat it thoroughly.  You don't want to drain the pasta.  They key is to bring some of that hot cooking water over with the pasta into the pan because the heat melts the cheese and the starch in that water will help bind the pepper and cheese to the pasta.

What you can't see is the light
sauce that coats every inch of
the pasta!  Drool!

Now here comes the trick - - you want to add the grated cheese rapidly and keep everything moving in the pan.  If you just toss in the cheese, it will clump up on you something fierce and become a gooey mess.  So you throw in just a few small handfuls of the cheese at a time, and keep swirling the pasta around rapidly with the tongs at the same time.  If you want to emulate the chefs at Davanti and perfect the creamy consistency, you will want to repeatedly flip the ingredients in the pan quickly with one hand, while you throw in the cheese with the other.  There is a bit of trick to this technique so if it sounds too much like you have to 'pat your head and rub your tummy' at the same time, and that makes you nervous just forget about that method and keep stirring and mixing with the tongs to develop those starches.  I found this cool video demonstration that will show you the technique in case you want to practice.  

If you need to add in a few Tablespoons of pasta water along the way, that can help bring the sauce together as well if you are getting some clumping.  You just keep adding in the cheese and swirling and mixing.  The sauce will become creamy and cling to the pasta after a couple of minutes.   You can see from my pictures, that I did have some small clumps of cheese, but for the most part I was pretty happy with it for a first attempt.  The flavors were spot on, and honestly that is all I really wanted.  I think I will grate my cheese even finer next time to improve upon the consistency and up the creamy factor.

The chefs at Davanti have mastered their execution of this dish and I highly recommend you check that place out if you are on Taylor Street in Chicago.  But until then, give this dish a try and let me know what you think. At the end of the day, it shouldn't be about rules or preparation techniques, just about good food.

Let me know what makes your Top 10 Dishes, and what foods you crave!

Delicious close-up of the Cacio e Pepe! 

Cacio e Pepe
8 oz Bucatini
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tsp freshly cracked Black Pepper
1 1/2 cups freshly grated Pecorino Romano Cheese