Pasta – Page 3 – Camilla Isley

Total time: 15 min
Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 2
Ingredients:

6oz Spaghetti
3.5oz Pecorino Cheese
Ground Black Pepper

This is a famous recipe from Rome. I love the rich and tasty cuisine of this region of Italy (I lived there for some years), and I will post many more recipes typical of Lazio.

Set a pot of water to boil for the pasta. You can prepare the sauce in the time it takes for the water to boil and the pasta to cook, actually it will take longer for the pasta to cook than for you to prepare the sauce. For this kind of recipe I prefer to use Spaghetti, or some other kind of long pasta.
Grate the Pecorino cheese. My tip, as alway, is to buy the cheese whole, cut it in small cubes, and grate it in the food processor. Also, this particular cheese is not so common, and you may not be able to find it already grated.
Now, how to do the sauce? The original recipe would tell you to wait until the pasta is ready and mix it directly with the grated cheese and a ladle of cooking water in a bowl until you have a creamy blend. I’ve tried it, and it’s not as easy as it sounds. So I cheat, how? I wait until the pasta has one minute left of cooking time and mix the grated cheese (leave out a small spoon for each plate) with said ladle of pasta’s cooking water in a small container (I use a plastic measuring cup), and then I process it with a hand blender. The result couldn’t be creamier.
Once you’re done with the blending, the pasta should be cooked and ready to be dried. If you want to bring to the table a bowl, put the pasta in and pour the cheese salsa on top, or you can already plate it and pour the salsa on each plate. Mix well.
Sprinkle with abundant ground black pepper and the remaining cheese.

Cacio e Pepe (Pecorino Cheese Spaghetti) Recipe by Camilla Isley

Total time: 20 min
Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 2
Ingredients:

6 oz Pasta
1 cup Tomato Puree
1 cup Vodka
3 oz Cream Cheese
4 spoons Parmesan Cheese
1 Shallot
1 spoon Olive Oil

This is a typical Italian recipe from the region Emilia Romagna, which is one of the best cooking hubs of Italy. (If it doesn’t ring a bell think Bolognese sauce, Ragu, Lasagna… they all come from there!)

Prepare all your ingredients and set a pot of water to boil for the pasta. You can prepare the sauce in the time it takes for the water to boil and the pasta to cook. For this kind of recipe I prefer to use Rigatoni pasta, but you can use any other kind you like.
Mince one small shallot. (Shallots are tastier, but if you have any other kind of onion at home that’s ok too.)
Brown the shallot in a skillet adding a spoon of olive oil. After a couple of minutes add 1 cup of vodka and let it reduce until you have more or less ¼ of the liquid left.
Whenever the water is boiling throw in the pasta.
As blending ingredient I’m using cream cheese, this is the lighter, healthier option. I usually use fat-free or 2x protein. But if you’re looking for a tastier meal rather than saving on calories you can use cooking cream instead, if you really don’t care about calories and want to make this pasta more than delicious you should use Mascarpone cheese. Click to see the different calories in the blending ingredients.
If you’re using the cooking cream or whipped cream cheese put in 6oz. Mascarpone 4oz.
If you’re using regular cream cheese while the vodka evaporates put 3oz in a pot and add one or two ladles of the pasta’s cooking water (after you’ve salted it). Squash and mix with a fork until you have a mostly homogeneous white creamy liquid.
When most of the vodka is evaporated, add the tomato sauce and mix, then add your blending ingredient of choice and mix again.
Sprinkle everything with a pinch of salt and lower the fire to low.
Now would be a good time to grate the Parmesan cheese. You can buy it already grated, but taste-wise I find that whole cheese is better, and since grating it at home is really easy, I prefer it. To great it I cut the cheese in small cubes, drop them in the food processor, and leave it on until the grain satisfies me.
When the pasta is cooked drain it.
Throw the pasta in the skillet, add two generous spoons of grated Parmesan cheese, and mix for a minute or two on the stove.
Plate the pasta, sprinkle with some additional Parmesan cheese, and serve.

The last pic is an example with Rotini pasta… you can use your favorite kind of pasta!