spaghettoni al cacio e pepe con funghi
spaghettoni in a cheese sauce with mushrooms
I honestly don’t do this to upset the purists, it’s just that I do find some of the classic ‘ minimalist’ pasta dishes needing a little more.... Here all I’ve done is to add garlicky, herby mushrooms to the classic Roman ‘Cacio e Pepe’ sauce, which I’m sure you already know is just ‘cheese and pepper.’ Cacio e Pepe is a dish that was relatively unknown in the UK as recently as 10 years ago, but now gets regular airtime across most social media platforms. Most foodies have now heard of it, and it’s getting to be a staple on many Italian restaurant menus in the UK too.
When I started cooking them, I always found Cacio e Pepe type sauces the hardest to get right. Remember, in Rome the classic Cacio e Pepe sauce is made of JUST grated cheese, starchy water from the pasta, and freshly toasted black pepper. And if you've never tried it before, the idea of making a silky cheesy sauce out of only those ingredients can seem a little daunting.
WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO DO
(scroll down for the full method)
grate the cheese
chop the garlic
prep and chop the mushrooms
cook the mushrooms
boil the pasta
toast the pepper
mantecatura for the pasta (T minus 2 mins)
combine cooking water and cheese
remove pasta from heat
rest and cool pasta min. 60 sec
off heat, combine pasta and sauce
spaghettoni in a cheese sauce with mushrooms
INGREDIENTS
FOR FOUR PEOPLE
approx. 500-750g portabello mushrooms
garlic to taste
pinch of oregano
white wine
salt, black pepper to taste
CACIO e PEPE SAUCE
approx 350g of pecorino
black pepper to taste
PASTA
400g spaghettoni
MANTECATURA (?)
slight to moderate
METHOD
Begin by cutting the mushrooms into slices and frying in EVO with a crushed clove of garlic for a few minutes. Cook them on a medium heat, adding a splash of white wine and a pinch of dry oregano. Cook them until they're soft to your liking and season with salt and black pepper. Take them off the heat and set them aside, making sure they're not sitting in any juice.
Next, grate the cheese and then putting the pasta water on to boil, and then move on to toasting the black pepper. I toast the pepper in my aluminium pasta pan / wok.... off the heat, grate between 5-8g of black pepper, and then apply a medium heat. Keep the pepper moving and don't burn it - the moment you begin to smell sweet, floral peppery smells, it's ready, so take it off the heat immediately, but continue to keep the pepper moving for a minute or two.
Add a ladle of cooking water to the toasted black pepper and stir the pepper and water mixture, on a medium heat. When the pasta's a few minutes or so away from being 'al dente', fish it out of the boiling pan using a pasta spoon and add it to the pepper and water mixture. If you want a less starchy sauce (less 'mantecatura'), leave it in the boiling water for longer and remove it closer to 'al dente', but be aware that the final stages of the dish will start to happen very quickly and almost all at the same time! If the pasta starts to dry up, add small amounts of cooking water, but only when it's almost completely dry. And now the tricky bit - making the cheese sauce.
When you think the pasta is about 2 mins away from being perfectly cooked, put the grated cheese in a pyrex bowl and add a ladle of cooking water - immediately whisk it with a hand whisk to make a creamy sauce. Ideally you'll have timed this right so that you can take the perfectly cooked pasta OFF the heat and stir in the creamy cheese sauce. Keep mixing and tossing in the pasta wok off the heat and add small additional amounts of pasta water or more grated pecorino to get to the saucy consistency you like, and at the last moment, throw in 2/3rd of the mushrooms as you toss all the ingredients together. Add the remaining mushrooms on the top of each portion as you plate.
NUTRITION per serving
KCAL: we're working on it!
Fat (g): TBC
Sat Fat (g): TBC
Carb (g): TBC
Sug (g): TBC
Fibre(g): TBC
Prot (g): TBC
Salt (g): TBC
