Hello! Hi everyone, Wesley here. Today we're diving back into the wonderful, weird world of Asian fusion cuisine with a play on one of my favorite pantry pastas of all time, which is the Italian cacio e pepe. For those unfamiliar, cacio e pepe, or as I often refer to it, "a grown up mac and cheese," is one of the classic Italian pastas that makes use of toasted black pepper, grated pecorino romano, spaghetti, and of course, a hefty amount of pasta water to create its thick and creamy texture. For our very strange, very fusion version of this dish today, we're going to swap out the black peppercorn and instead make use of some Sichuan and white peppercorn to give it a rather unique numbing quality that I don't think I've ever experienced in an Italian pasta. To pair with this, we're also going to make use of some grated parmigiano reggiano in lieu of the classic pecorino romano.

WAIT! WAIT. Just wait, before all of the Italians in the room freak out, let me explain. We're going to use a slightly milder grated parm in lieu of the required pecorino romano today so that we may also incorporate a bit of miso paste in our pasta, so as not to overwhelm the senses. This is going to yield for us a complex, nutty, and umami forward pantry dish that is easily one of my favorite lazy meals of all time. Hope you try it.

 

Serves 2-3

INGREDIENTS

  • 16oz spaghetti

  • 4oz parmigiano reggiano

  • 2 tbsp white miso paste

  • 12 dried Tian Jin peppers

  • 1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorn

  • 1 tbsp white peppercorn

  • kosher salt

PREP

  • HEAT a wok over low heat, then add the Tian Jin, Sichuan, and white peppers and dry toast for 3-5 minutes until fragrant

  • REMOVE the Tian Jin peppers, then add the remaining peppercorns to a mortar and pestle and crush

  • GRATE the parm into a large mixing bowl, then combine with the white miso paste and set aside

ON THE STOVE

  • BOIL a pot of water, then liberally salt the water and cook the spaghetti to al dente according to package instruction

  • RESERVE 1/2 cup of pasta water, then strain the pasta and set aside

  • ADD the pasta water 2-3 tbsp at a time to the parm/miso mixture, then whisk until a thick and creamy sauce forms

  • ADD the spaghetti and Tian Jin peppers to the mixing bowl, then toss to combine

  • ADD the crushed peppercorns through a fine mesh sieve, then toss to combine

  • FINISH with Tian Jin peppers and fresh grated parm

 

tagged with cacio e pepe, pasta recipe, italian cooking, italian food, chinese cooking, chinese food, miso paste, sichuan, sichuan pepper, miso cacio pepe, sichuan cacio pepe, fusion recipe, woo can cook