Cacio e pepe pasta recipe

Cacio e pepe is a simple pasta (opens in new tab) dish that is so tasty as well as being on trend. The words ‘cacao e pepe’ literally translate as cheese and pepper – the two star ingredients of this elegant and rustic pasta recipe. Cacio e pepe originates from Roman cuisine, and is traditionally made with long, thin pasta such as spaghetti (opens in new tab), but we’ve made ours with bucatini for a bit of extra bite. As this recipe has so few ingredients, using the best quality cheese (opens in new tab) will give the best results. Look for a good Parmesan, or Pecorino, and grate it really finely to make it melt easily into the sauce. This fuss free pasta recipe requires only one pan and one bowl, but gives such impressive results. Room temperature cheese, and pasta water that isn’t too hot are also key to getting a really smooth and creamy sauce. The beauty of this recipe is, that pasta with salty cheese and rich butter can never go too wrong and is guaranteed to give mouth watering results!

Ingredients

• 200g dried bucatini or spaghetti
• 60g vegetarian Parmesan, grated, plus extra to serve
• 20g butter
• ½tsp ground black pepper, plus extra to serve

Method

1. Cook the bucatini or spaghetti according to the instructions on the pack, for about 8-10 minutes.
2. Put the Parmesan, butter and ground pepper in a large bowl. Halfway through the pasta’s cooking time, take 100ml of the pasta water from the pan and put it in a bowl. Leave it to cool for a minute, then slowly add to the Parmesan, butter and black pepper. Whisk the mixture until it all comes together as a sauce.
3. When the pasta is cooked, drain and toss with the sauce until thoroughly coated. Divide the pasta between two plates and serve with extra Parmesan and black pepper.