Cavatelli cacio e pepe
Cacio e pepe is one of the simplest and most beloved Roman dishes, but making your own cavatelli takes it to a whole new level.
For this recipe you will need a gnocchi paddle.
Ingredients
- 200g/7oz '00' flour, plus extra for dusting
- 125g/4½oz boiling water
- coarse semolina, for dusting
- 100g/3½oz pecorino, grated
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp olive oil, to serve
Method
Add the flour to a wide bowl. Pour the boiling water into the flour and mix with a spoon until a dough forms.
Transfer the dough to a clean work surface and knead by hand until you have a smooth dough.
Cut the dough into quarters. Dust the surface with semolina and roll the dough quarters into logs, with an even width of around 2cm/¾in. Use a sharp knife to cut each log into 2–3cm/¾–1in pieces.
Lightly dust the gnocchi paddle with flour.
Place a piece of pasta on the paddle just over halfway down. Roll the cavatelli away from you pressing with medium firm pressure, this will create a cavity.
Once you have rolled all the dough, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Cook the cavatelli for 30 seconds, or until they begin to float. Drain, reserving some pasta cooking water.
In a wide based pan, toast plenty of black pepper for 1 minute until fragrant.
Add around 100ml/3½fl oz of the reserved pasta water and bring to a boil.
Add the cooked cavatelli and reduce the liquid slightly.
Turn off the heat and stir in the pecorino until smooth and creamy.
Finish with the olive oil and serve immediately.
