parmesan Archives | butter loves company

A simple, cheesy, creamy, peppery Roman pasta dish on your table in 20 minutes.

I would rather clean the bathroom than do a load of laundry. Call me crazy, but it’s true! I hope fellow Laundromat goers can relate.

Luckily for me, my super cool roommate (boyfriend) is a laundry fanatic. At this point, I’ve been banned from doing said roommates laundry because of my “poor technique.” Even just last night, I attempted to help fold some shirts from the mountain of warm, clean clothes, only to catch my fold jobs being refolded at the turn of my head *ahem*.

So, to thank my resident laundry-pro for his hard work—and as an attempted peace offering for leaving chap stick in a pants pocket that went through last week’s wash *gulp*—I wanted to make a tasty weeknight dinner that he could enjoy.

He is a big pepper person, so if you are too, you will love this simple, cheesy, peppery Roman pasta dish.

Even non-pepper people will love this. Hey, even picky kids would probably love this as a take on mac and cheese.

Called Cacio e Pepe, literally meaning cheese and pepper in Italian, this minimalist pasta dish is so great because it is made with just 6 ingredients and its deliciousness is on your table in 15–20 minutes. Like I often do, I read a Shaq-sized handful of recipes for Cacio e Pepe before making it myself. The key to this creamy, cheesy, peppery-spiced pasta is in the technique. You’ll heat the pepper in a small bit of oil first to help develop its flavor. You’ll use the starchy pasta water to make the sauce; coupling it with a little bit of butter and a generous portion of finely grated, sharp Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano. I used fresh bucatini because there is a fabulous fresh pasta shop near my apartment, but feel free to use dry. If you can find it, I strongly recommend bucatini (spaghetti-like pasta with a hole running through the center). I served it with some simple sautéed kale to make myself feel better. I mean, we did just have this cake.

The result is a restaurant quality dish that even the busiest novice home cook can master and impress with.

I loved this so much I made it two days in a row because I was so excited to share it with you.

cacio e pepe

Author: Adapted from Maialino via The Family Table Cookbook

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 20 mins

Serves: Makes 2 main servings or 4 starter courses. Recipe can easily be doubled.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon table salt
½ pound pasta (any shape you like, though long spaghetti-like pasta works great.)
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ tablespoon medium-course fresh ground black pepper (if you don’t really like pepper, reduce to 1 teaspoon)
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
½ cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus ¼ cup extra for garnishing

Instructions

Bring 6 cups water and the salt to a boil in a medium sized pot. Add the pasta, stir, and cook until just al dente; the pasta will be reheated for a minute or two later on (keep in mind, when using fresh pasta cook time will be a few minutes shorter than dry).
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the pepper and warm for 1 to 2 minutes to release its flavor. Ladle ⅔ cup of the pasta cooking water into the skillet with the pepper and remove the pan from heat.
When the pasta is al dente, drain it and add it to the pepper/pasta water skillet. Return the pan to medium-high heat, add the butter, and cook, stirring constantly until the butter has melted completely. Remove from heat and gradually sprinkle the cheese over the pasta, stirring the pan until the cheese is fully incorporated and forms a creamy sauce. Taste the sauce and add more pepper if you’d like.
Serve immediately topped with the remaining grated cheese.

A recipe for a light, healthy, pea, fennel and leek soup. Fennel adds a subtle anise flavor to the sweet leek and pea puree; completed with sharp, salty, shaved Parmesan.

Sometimes it scares me how similar my mom and I think: I buy lots of fennel on Saturday, and she has the family over for a fennel filled, porchetta on Sunday (wrapped in prosciutto, no less). The bright green, feathered tips of the fennel—the fronds—were generously rolled into the meat, like cinnamon in cinnamon buns. While I like fennel, the thought of making another heavily fennel flavored dish seemed like it could be overload for one week. I needed to use my fennel in a more subtle way (call me a fennel-phobe, I can take it).

What resulted was an adaptation of the Fennel, Lettuce, and Pea soup recipe from Giada de Laurentiis’ Feel Good Food. I had no lettuce, so I subbed with leftover leeks that didn’t make it into my boyfriend’s St. Patrick’s Day boiled dinner. To keep the fennel light in the soup, I omitted the fennel seeds she had called for, instead adding a bay leaf for flavor during the cook time. The result was a creamy, nourishing soup with a gorgeous sea foam green color. You’ll love this recipe if you’re looking for a friendly introduction to this licorice-flavored vegetable. The bright, sweet pea soup balances the anise flavor enough to please both sides of the fennel divide; the lovers and the skeptics. Of course, feel free to add another ½ or full fennel bulb if you’re entertaining a group of fennel fans.

pea, fennel and leek soup

Recipe Type: soup

Author: adapted slightly from Giada de Laurentiis, Feel Good Food

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 35 mins

Serves: 4

A recipe for a light, healthy, pea, fennel and leek soup. Fennel adds a subtle anise flavor to the sweet leek and pea puree; completed with sharp, salty, shaved Parmesan.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 small shallots, diced
1 medium fennel bulb, chopped (about 2 cups)
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 medium leeks, white and light green parts only, cut into ¼ inch slices
One 10-ounce package frozen petite peas (about 2 ¼ cups)
2 cups low-salt chicken broth, plus extra, as needed
1 bay leaf
shredded parmesan, for garnishing (optional, only, not really)
fennel fronds, for garnishing (optional)

Instructions

Melt the butter in a heavy, large saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallots and fennel. Season with the salt and pepper. Cover the pan and cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the leeks and continue to cook until all the vegetables are almost tender, another 3 to 5 minutes. Mix in the peas, broth, and bay leaf. Bring the soup to a boil. Cover; reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the vegetables are just tender, 5 to 6 minutes. Remove the bay leaf from the saucepan and discard.
Using a blender, or immersion blender, blend the soup until smooth. If using a standing blender, take the saucepan off of the heat for 5 minutes and then blend just 1 cup at a time. Pour the soup back into the saucepan and keep warm over low heat. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste. Thin out the soup by adding 1 tablespoon of extra broth at a time, if needed.
Ladle the soup into bowls and serve with a sprinkle of parmesan and a pinch of fennel fronds.