Cacio di Pepe

Sometimes, a girl just needs a simple dish of pasta. This cacio di pepe, a Roman staple, brings me back to The Spanish Steps every time.

Fast, easy, and DELICIOUS! When cooking a “simple” dish like this one, its imperative to have really good ingredients. The cheese matters. The pasta matters. And the olive oil matters.

Bogus olive oil from Italy?…

You may have heard the news that much of what Italy exports to the US in the way of olive oil, is not in fact olive oil… or poor quality. That little bit of news started my search for a really high quality olive oil. Its not quite as important when cooking with olive oil to have high quality, or extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO). The oil degrades in the cooking process, so don’t waste your money on the expensive high-quality stuff. But, its very important to use a high quality extra-virgin olive oil to finish a dish or to use in non-heat situations (bread dip, pan con tomate, pasta finish, etc).

My extra-virgin olive oil recommendation…

After tasting several different varieties and making price considerations, I found The California Olive Ranch to be some of the best olive oil producers out there, period. I love that I could find them in my local Costco for awhile. This brand goes on sale quite often in most grocery stores, so snap it up when you see it on sale! Unless you use a ton of it, be sure to buy the smallest bottle. Yes, its a bit more expensive to do it that way but you are ensuring the best quality. Olive oil can go bad or lose quality over time so try to extend its shelf life by storing in a dark, dry place.

Cacio di Pepe

Its all about the cheese…

Besides using a really good extra-virgin olive oil to finish this dish, make sure that you are using great cheese. Traditionally, cacio di pepe is made with pecorino romano but I love the flavor of Grana Padano (similar to parmesean) so I mix it in with the Romano. I also use really good pasta and cook it al dente.

Pasta snob…

My husband’s Italian family owns a pasta factory (or pastaficio) in the small mountain town of Fara San Martino and makes some of the absolute BEST dry pasta out there. When we don’t have Guiseppe Cocco pasta on hand, I use their neighbor’s, De Cecco, which is easy to find in most neighborhood grocery stores (and at a much more accessible price-point). They both use water that flows from the same mountains and it makes a huge difference.

Making it kid friendly…

If you are making this for your kids, be sure to adjust the amount of pepper depending on your children’s tolerance for spice. My kids were totally fine with this amount of pepper but I did add some more pepper to my dish as a finish. I toasted my peppercorns on a dry hot pan on the stove and it made such a difference. To “crack” them, I simply used a meat tenderizer but a mortar and pestle would be much more efficient- and clean.

I hope you enjoy this comforting Roman classic dish as much as my family and I did. Buon appetito!!!