Cacio e Pepe
Love is in the air! Your sweetheart will be pleasantly surprised with this decadent and creamy cacio e pepe. This lightened up Italian favorite will not weigh you down, plus it's simple enough to whip up so you can spend that quality time together!
Cook Time: 45 minutes | Serves: 2
Ingredients:
- 8 oz bucatini pasta (or spaghetti)
- 1 TB black peppercorns, whole (or ground pepper)
- Salt
- Reserved pasta water
- 10-12 Nowadays nuggets, cooked
- Fresh parsley, garnish
Cheese Sauce
- 1 cups water
- ¼ cup raw cashews
- ½ TB miso paste
- 1½ TB nutritional yeast
- ½ tsp granulated garlic
- ½ TB white wine (optional)
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 TB tapioca starch
Method:
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In a dry pan, toast the black peppercorns on medium heat until they become fragrant. Remove from heat.
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Grind the peppercorns down with a mortar and pestle, or a spice grinder. Alternatively you could use regular ground pepper if you wish.
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Make your cheese sauce by combining all the cheese sauce ingredients in a high speed blender. Reserve for finishing the sauce.
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Fill a stockpot with at least 2 quarts of water and place on the stove to boil. Cover pot to boil quicker. Once water is boiling add 2 TB of salt to water before placing in pasta.
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Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. Pasta will continue to cook when incorporated with the sauce.
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Once pasta is finished cooking, reserve about 2 cups of pasta water.
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In a large skillet place two heavy pinches of the freshly ground peppercorns and about ¼ cup of water. Heat the water and pepper for a few minutes before pouring in the cheese sauce mixture.
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Whisk the mixture gently until it begins to thicken. As the sauce thickens up add in pasta and toss to coat. Once sauce has coated the pasta, add additional pasta water to achieve desired consistency.
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Plate pasta with Nowadays nuggets and fresh parsley. Enjoy with someone you love.
