Homemade spaghetti is one of the greatest proof of love... it's so time-consuming and takes lots of patience you really have to do it for somebody very special!
In this recipe, the hours of love spent making the spaghetti are finished off in super-quick fashion, after just a few steps - but take care as you follow them, as you don't want to overcook the spaghetti but you they'll need to stay in the pan for long enough to become slightly creamy, almost like a risotto.
Ingredients for 2 people:
200g homemade spaghetti (or dry spaghetti)
160g grated pecorino romano
a generous amount of ground pepper
3/4 teacup of cooking water
EVO oil
salt
Preparation:
Once your fresh homemade spaghetti have dried out, grind a generous amount of pepper in a pan with some olive oil (keep it aside for now) and grate the pecorino. Pecorino romano is very salty so be careful when adding salt to the boiling water.
Prepare the spaghetti as normal, but cut the cooking time by 2 minutes. My fresh spaghetti only took 4-5 mins to get to this stage. Drain the spaghetti leaving a tea cup under the colander, so to reserve some for the cooking water.
Turn on the the heath under the pan with EVO oil and ground black pepper. Throw the spaghetti in and, when they start to sizzle, add a little bit of the pasta cooking water, stirring gently, as you would with a risotto. Continue stirring and adding water little by little, so that the spaghetti slowly release some starch, turning creamy as they finish to cook in the pan. You can also add a little of the pecorino to the pan, to make them even more creamy, but be careful to stir it well, otherwise it will form lumps.
Serve immediately once ready (and still 'al dente') with the rest of grated pecorino on top, and a little extra black pepper if you feel they need more of a kick.
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| spaghetti cacio&pepe ©italiansuitcase |