Cacio e pepe -- #recipe by @LeslieBudewitz

LESLIE BUDEWITZ:  Last fall, Mr. Right and I, along with my brother and SIL, spent two weeks in Switzerland and Italy. Our first day in Florence, we spent hours in the Uffizi, emerging, already dazzled, into the sunlight—and separated from our companions. We found them at a corner trattoria, called L’Auditoria, where my brother was tucking into a plate of pici cacio e pepe. Pici, a type of long, round pasta, with cheese and pepper. It was so gorgeous I had to order the same thing.

Suffice to say, it was as good as it looks. (Okay, so I didn't make curlicues on the rim of the plate with a squeeze bottle.)  

I’d heard of the dish, and heard that it was hard to make. Apparently, most attempts end up with more sauce stuck to the pot than to the pasta, obviously not the goal. Then I spotted a version by Deb Perelman of the Smitten Kitchen blog and books. She confessed that she struggled with the recipe for years, even adding cream and butter to make a sauce that was good but not the Real Thing, until a friend told her the trick: Instead of adding a sauce to pasta in a pan, you make a simple paste of cheese, pepper, and water, then add it to the hot pasta in a serving bowl. 

Fabulous. Simply fabulous. And honestly, pretty simple.

In Florence, we were served pici, which can be hard to find. I’ve now made it with pici, bucatini (another long, round pasta), and spaghetti. All work equally well. 

How much pepper? Didn’t help that Perelman wrote “lots,” then how many twists of her grinder. I made 50 twists, just over a teaspoon. 

We used a Swiss spool style grater rather than a box grater. Perelman suggests an immersion blender and that worked beautifully; if you don’t have one, use a small food processor. Honestly, I think a good stiff spoon and enough water would work just fine. 

Have you brought home a favorite dish from your travels? How did the re-creation go?

Cacio e pepe

adapted from Deb Perelman, Smitten Kitchen

8 ounces dried pici, bucatini, or spaghetti 

4 ounces aged pecorino romano, finely grated

freshly ground black pepper. one teaspoon or more

parsley to garnish (optional)

Bring a pot of well-salted water to boil. Cook pasta to one minute less than package directions; it should be the desired doneness you want in the finished recipe as it will not cook any further, but will sit for a minutes. 

Set aside a spoonful of cheese for garnish. While the pasta boils, combine the rest of the cheese and the pepper in a bowl or the bowl of your food processor. Add 1 tablespoon cold water and process with your immersion blender or food processor, creating a paste about the consistency of cream cheese, adding up to 4-5 total tablespoons of cold water, as needed. Blend until smooth. 

Reserve a cup of hot pasta water. Drain the pasta in a colander and immediately pour into a warmed serving bowl. (Don’t worry about getting it thoroughly dried; the extra water will help create a smooth sauce.) Spoon the cheese and pepper paste into the pasta and toss with tongs or pasta spoons to evenly coat the pasta. Stir in hot pasta water if needed, no more than a tablespoon at a time, to loosen and smooth the sauce. Continue to toss until the pasta is coated and serve topped with reserved grated cheese, a few grinds of black pepper, and a sprig of parsley. Serve immediately. 

Squiggles on the plate optional.  

Serves 4 as a main course. 

If you have leftovers, add a spoon or two of the leftover pasta water to your container, to help keep the pasta loose and saucy for next time. 

From the cover of BLIND FAITH, written as Alicia Beckman (in hardcover, ebook, and audio from Crooked Lane Books, October 2022)  

Long-buried secrets come back with a vengeance in a cold case gone red-hot in Agatha Award-winning author Alicia Beckman’s second novel, perfect for fans of Laura Lippman and Greer Hendricks.

Two women whose paths crossed in Montana years ago discover they share keys to a deadly secret that exposes a killer—and changes everything they thought they knew about themselves. 

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries and the Spice Shop Mysteries, continuing in July 2022 with Peppermint Barked. She's the winner of Agatha Awards in three categories. Death al Dente, the first Food Lovers' Village Mystery, won Best First Novel in 2013, following her 2011 win in Best Nonfiction. Her first historical short story, "All God's Sparrows," won the 2018 Agatha Award for Best Short Story. As Alicia Beckman, she writes standalone suspense, beginning with Bitterroot Lake (2021) and continuing with Blind Faith (October 2022, Crooked Lane Books).

A past president of Sisters in Crime and a current board member of Mystery Writers of America, she lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine, and their cat, an avid bird-watcher.

Swing by her website and subscribe to her seasonal newsletter, for a chat about the writing life, what she's working on, and  what she's reading -- and a free short story. And join her on Facebook where she shares book news and giveaways from her writer friends, and talks about food, mysteries, and the things that inspire her.