Cacio e Pepe

It's 6:30 pm on a Wednesday, you just got home, the fridge is empty and you're hungry. What do you do? Prior to my trip to Italy this summer I would have always answered that question by quickly replying "make Ina Garten's Agio e Olio!" but since getting to experience the epitome of simple Italian classic dishes, Cacio e Pepe, in Rome I've added a new quick and easy weeknight pasta to my repertoire! Even when it may appear that the fridge is empty and there's nothing to make, I always make sure that my cupboards and fridge are stocked just enough to be able to throw together a tasty pasta on the fly. In order to keep myself prepared come the mid-week hunger freakout I always make sure to have good quality pasta, peppercorns, olive oil, garlic, and Parmigiano-Reggiano and/or Pecorino cheese on hand. Truly, that is all you need to whip together a fantastic pasta dinner! 

Though in theory cacio e pepe is simpler than aglio e olio (there are less steps and less ingredients), it is the simplicity of ingredients and preparation that actually makes cacio e pepe trickier to master than it's olive oil sister. With only pasta water, fresh cracked pepper, butter, and cheese, the trick to mastering cacio e pepe is all about finesse in preparation and quality of ingredients. I know, quality ingredients means pricey ingredients, but it is in instances like this where the quality of your ingredients truly makes all the difference. With so few ingredients, you really have to use the best in order to get the most flavour, so make friends with your local cheesemonger (get out of the grocery store and visit a gourmet cheese shop or a farmers market for your cheese!) and get yourself a big ol' hunk of parm. In terms of finesse, the way to achieve great results with this pasta is making sure everything is prepped ahead of time, ensuring your pasta is nice and al dente (you want it to have a nice bite), and serving it all up at the exact right moment. The exact right moment is when you have just enough sauce to coat your pasta with a little bit left in the bowl. Don't second guess yourself. If you think it's done, take it off the heat right away! If you take an extra 30-seconds to consider whether your pasta is done, your sauce may have dissipated and your noodles may have over-cooked. Trust your gut! 

With such a simple recipe and such high standards after having an insanely good take on cacio e pepe at Flavio Al Velavevodetto in Rome, I still feel as though I have not perfected my cacio e pepe quite yet. Though it's always delicious and leaves me feeling satiated and comforted, my cacio e pepe is not quite as creamy as the perfect one that I had the pleasure of devouring in Rome. What is my cacio e pepe missing? I still don't have a clue, but I welcome any advice or tricks that you may have to achieving that wonderfully creamy result that I'm dreaming of. Give the dish a try and let me know how it went on Twitter: @thisgingerrose. What did you like about the recipe? Where did you struggle? I want to know! Let's chat! 

Notes: 

• I like to freshly crack my peppercorns for this dish right before I make it in a mortar and pestle. I highly recommend you do the same for the best flavour!
• Have everything prepped and in its place before you get anything going on the stove. Crack your pepper, grate your cheeses, set the table, etc. It all goes very quickly as soon as your pasta comes out of the water. 
• I like to use Molisana dry pasta as a good-quality, yet reasonably priced pasta that I can get at the grocery store. 

Recipe slightly adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients:

kosher salt

1 lb dry pasta (such as spaghetti, tonnarelli, chittara)

6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed and divided

2 tsp black peppercorns, freshly cracked

1 1/2 cups Parmigiano-Reggiano, finely grated

2/3 cup Pecorino, finely grated

Directions:

1. In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook pasta until very al dente (the pasta will continue to cook in the sauce). Drain, reserving 1 1/2 cups of pasta water. 
2. Meanwhile, in a large heavy skillet set to medium heat, toast the pepper for 1-2 minutes, or until fragrant. Add 4 Tbsp butter and melt while whisking. Whisk together in pan for 1-minute. 
3. Add 1-cup reserved pasta water and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 5-minutes. 
4. Add pasta and remaining butter and mix together with tongs. Reduce heat to low and add Parmigiano-Reggiano, stirring and tossing with tongs until melted. 
5. Remove pan from heat and add pecorino. Stir and toss until cheese has melted, and the sauce has coated the pasta. Add more pasta water if the pasta seems dry. 
6. Serve immediately in warmed pasta bowls topped with additional grated Parmigano and a drizzle of good-quality olive oil (optional).

Listening To:

Adele - Hello 

Viva Italia - Part 2 - When Fantasy Becomes Reality

Exhausted from a 14 hour travel day, and lost sleep due to the stress of being rejected from my flight, racing to get an emergency passport, and finding a new flight, Chris and I decided to spend our first full day in Italy relaxing on the white sandy beach. It was so great to have an umbrella, two chairs, beach towels, and a spot on the beach reserved for us as apart of our accommodations with the Hotel Adriatico, and not have to worry about having to secure all that on our own. Finally we could truly relax with the feeling of the waves from the Adriatic sea rolling through our tired bodies.

There are certain visions ingrained in my mind as true Italian experiences, ones that I had pieced together from film and photographs, that I was unsure whether they were a reality or just a thing of fantasy. Visions of dining at large banquet tables, surrounded by beautiful people, in small alleyways, being served family-style, traditional, rustic Italian food, and experiencing that feeling of sheer bliss. As much as I craved those experiences before coming to Italy, I really wasn't sure if I had seen Big Night and Bicycle Thief one too many times for my own good, and had a crazy fantasy in my head that real life could never live up to. It was on our very first full day in Italy that I feel so lucky to say I had the privilege of experiencing one of those magical moments.

Though many of the people in the group we were traveling with promised me that our meal at Trattoria Da Peppe that evening would be incredible, in my head I kept thinking "I just met you, I don't know if I trust your opinion on food." An embarrassingly snobby thought, I must admit, though I'd been warned of the many tourist traps within Italy that lack authenticity and quality, while still receiving rave reviews from the streams of tourist that walk through their doors.

Filled with a mixture of skepticism and hope, we passed the buzzing restaurants in the centre of the city of Vasto, and walked through a small, dimly lit alleyway to arrive at a large banquet table set out for us outside of the ancient converted stable, which is now home to the cozy and welcoming Trattoria Da Peppe. Upon our arrival we were immediately greeted by Peppe himself, Giuseppe and his wife Maria, who gave us a quick tour of the space, telling us about its history as a stable, and showing us the small Argentinian-wood-burning oven that Giuseppe does his magic in, as well as the tiny windowless church adjacent to the restaurant, and the exquisite private gardens directly across the alley. I was already swept up in the drama and romanticism that Giuseppe and Maria so beautifully created, and our meal hadn't even begun!

After settling into our seats we were presented with homemade wine, bottles of sparkling water, and crusty bread, followed by an elaborate selection of lovingly-prepared antipasti. When I say "lovingly-prepared" I mean to evoke that same feeling you get when diving into your grandmothers cooking, you just know it was prepared with love and care. You can taste that love!

Though all of the antipasti was fantastic, the one dish that stood out to me as one of the best bites of food that has ever crossed my lips was Giuseppe's famous Cheese and Egg Balls, also known as Pallotte Cacio e Uova, or a type of polpette (meatball), but without the meat. Pallotte Cacio e Uova are known as being a "poor mans dish," the type of dish one would make to use up stale bread, eggs, and cheese and reinvent it into something comforting and delicious. Crustless stale bread is cut into cubes and soaked in water or milk to soften. The liquid is squeezed out and the bread gets mixed with beaten eggs, parsley, garlic, and a mixture of hard sharp cheeses, and rolled into small balls. The egg and cheese balls are then fried until golden, and transferred to simmer in homemade tomato sauce until the balls puff up from soaking up some of the savoury sauce. It sounds simple enough, though Giuseppe's Pallotte Cacio e Uova were truly extraordinary! Despite the fact that they were one of the first dishes presented to us and I knew there were many more dishes to come, I couldn't help but get my hands on as many of those delicious little bites of heaven as I could!

Those little bites of heaven were followed by cornmeal flatbreads topped with cicoria AKA. chicory, veal simmered in sauce, stuffed eggplant, homemade sausages, a selection of thinly-sliced char-grilled meats, salad, rum cake, and blueberry cheesecake. SWOON! I wish I could accurately express to you how truly extraordinary this meal was. Every single dish was out of this world incredible. I know, the hyperbole is at all time high right now, but I am not embellishing by any means how special this meal  actually was. Just incredible, and unlike anything I have ever experienced.

We walked back into the heart of the city with full bellies and happy hearts, to drink into the evening while revelling in the experience that we had just shared. Though I knew there was a lot of other fantastic food in Vasto that I had yet to try, I couldn't help but wish that we could experience another meal from Giuseppe again during our short trip.

Other Things Of Note:
Since coming home from Italy I have tried to recreate Giuseppe's Pallotte Cacio e Uova, and though mine were very tasty, they were nothing compared to the perfection that Giuseppe presented to us!

What made our meal so special at Trattoria Da Peppe was so much more than the food. From the moment we arrived at the restaurant we were treated like family and received hospitality unparalleled from any other restaurant I have ever been to.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of my Italian adventure to hear about my visit to Pescara and exploring the Medieval city of Vasto.

Listening To:
Jamie XX - Gosh

Viva Italia - Part 1 - Also known as the time I almost wasn't allowed in the country

Me (Danielle Rose) in total bliss in Vasto, Italy

When I was 14 years old my mom told me to start a savings account. "One day you'll want to travel the world" she said, and encouraged me to start thinking of places I'd like to explore. With visions of nonnas rolling pasta dough, and pizza crusts bubbling out of wood-fired ovens, there was one place above all others that stirred my desire to travel, Italy. 

Though I've been lucky enough to travel to some extraordinary places since then, it wasn't until now that an opportunity to visit my dream country, Italy, finally arose! Thanks to an invitation from my boyfriend Chris' parents to join them, along with a large group of Italian friends, on a trip to Italy to trace their families roots, I could finally make my dreams of exploring the legendary "boot" a reality. 

The plan was to stay in the coastal town of Vasto, situated in Abruzzo's southern coast, adjacent to the Adriatic sea, and from there take day trips to visit the various towns from which Chris' ancestors were from. With several of the other families we were traveling with from Vasto, with friends and family still living in the beautiful town, it was easy to make Vasto our "home base" for the trip. 

Though our vacation got off to a rocky start (ummm...I was rejected from the plane AT THE GATE due to an apparently "expired passport," though my passport was actually due to expire this November 2015. See my angry Twitter rant for more info!), and with a day and a half of mine and Chris' trip lost, not to mention thousands of dollars down the drain thanks to having to purchase a new one-way ticket to Rome, we finally arrived at Fiumicino airport in Rome!

At the sight of a "Mozzarella Bar" in the airport after landing, I knew that all of our initial trouble to get here was worth it! Bring on the mozzarella! After downing prosciutto and mozzarella panini's and cold Fanta's, Chris and I hopped on the Dicarlo Bus (Italy's version of a Greyhound) to continue our long journey to Vasto. Though our string of bad luck seemed to persist through our trek to Vasto, having to switch from our comfortable, air conditioned and near-empty bus to a packed, hot, and smelly bus after blowing a tire, we were happy to be greeted with smiling (and teary-eyed) familiar faces upon our arrival.

We stowed our luggage in our gorgeous suite at the Hotel Adriatico, and quickly joined our friends and family to begin our adventure! After gorging ourselves on an Italian feast of an antipasti buffet, pasta fagioli, an array of grilled meats, a fruit platter, and dessert, we were off to take part in the excitement and energy thriving from Vasto Marina, as the town celebrated Notte Rosa, also known as Pink Night. Though Chris and I hardly had a wink of sleep for days, we managed to stay up until 3:30 AM, listening to live music, taking in the sights, and sipping on cool drinks, taken by the infectious energy of the festival. 

Other things of note:

The espresso was so good all over Italy, that even the espresso offered on the Dicarlo Bus was fantastic, and better than most of the espresso you can find in Toronto!

Stay tuned for Part 2 of my Italian adventure to hear about one of the most extraordinary meals of my life!

Listening To:
Jamie XX - Stranger In A Room