Simple creamy pasta with just 4 ingredients
A creamy Italian classic this velvety pasta packs a punch with only 4 ingredients. Ready in under 15min.
Recipe
Serves: 2 | Time: <15 min
Ingredients
- 200g spaghetti (7oz)
- 90g parmesan (1cup), freshly grated
- 20g butter (1.5 tbsp)
- 1 tsp black pepper,* freshly cracked
(*) makes a very peppery sauce, reduce by half if needed, you can always crack some more on after.
Method
- Cook 200g of pasta up to 2min under packet instruction.
- Grate 90g of parmesan (1 cup).
- Melt 20g of butter in a pan. Add pepper and toast for about 1 min (until fragrant).
- Add one ladle of pasta cooking water to the butter-pepper mix.
- Grab the pasta with tongs and directly add to the butter mixture (or strain making sure to save some pasta water).
- Lower heat and add parmesan tossing with tongs. If the pasta seems too dry, add more pasta water – or normal water if you have already discarded it all.
Substitutions
I suggest here some possible substitutions to make cacio e pepe your own.
| Recipe components | Possible substitutions* |
| Butter | • Margarine • Olive oil |
| Spaghetti | Your favourite pasta (linguine, penne, etc.) |
| Parmesan | Other sharp aged cheese |
Country
Italy
Italy
The Global Homecook 