This really simple dish, created with minimal cauliflower prep, is made even more delicious by ‘scarpetta’ – the delicious act of dipping crusty bread into a flavoursome sauce that’s left at the bottom of the cooking pot
When Nadine isn't busy developing delicious recipes and using her experience as a health food editor to create healthy treats, she's munching and reviewing her way around her beloved home town of Tottenham. Find out what she's cooking and eating on Instagram @n0sh.17
See more of Nadine Brown’s recipes
Nadine Brown
When Nadine isn't busy developing delicious recipes and using her experience as a health food editor to create healthy treats, she's munching and reviewing her way around her beloved home town of Tottenham. Find out what she's cooking and eating on Instagram @n0sh.17
See more of Nadine Brown’s recipes
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Ingredients
70g Pecorino Romano cheese, finely grated
6 tbsp olive oil, plus a little extra to drizzle
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 garlic clove, grated
1 extra-large cauliflower, about 1.3kg
250ml hot vegetable stock (made using ½ a stock cube*)
2 tbsp full-fat crème fraîche
small handful of parsley, finely chopped
crusty bread*, to serve
salad leaves, to serve
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Preheat the oven to 220°C, fan 200°C, gas 7. Combine 50g of the grated cheese with the oil, black pepper, garlic, and a large pinch of salt. Set aside.
Remove the outer leaves of the cauliflower and set them aside in a small roasting tin. Cut a small slice from the base of the cauliflower so that it sits level, then place it in a deep lidded casserole. Pour the hot vegetable stock around the cauliflower, then spoon the Pecorino mixture over the top – it’s fine if some goes into the water below. Cover with a lid and bake for 45 minutes, or until fork tender. Meanwhile, drizzle the leaves with a little oil, season and add to the oven to cook alongside the cauliflower until crisp and slightly charred – about 15 minutes, then remove.
Remove the casserole from the oven, sprinkle half the remaining cheese over the cauliflower and return to the oven, uncovered. Bake until the cheese has melted and the surface starts to turn golden, about 5 minutes.
Lift the cauliflower out to a serving dish, if using, then whisk the crème fraîche and remaining cheese into the liquid remaining in the casserole to make a sauce. Pour the sauce around the cauliflower and scatter over the parsley. Serve with the bread to mop up the sauce, and the roast cauliflower leaves and salad on the side. Alternatively, you could return the cauliflower to the casserole and take it all to the table to serve. *Serve with gluten-free bread and check your stock is gluten-free, if required.
Waste not
Blitz any leftovers with stock or milk plus some seasoning to make a speedy pasta sauce.
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Another culprit of clumping cacio e pepe is the pasta water. Starch in the pasta water is what allows the sauce to mix with the cheese and pepper to become a hom*ogenous pasta sauce. So if you add too much water to the pasta, it thins out the starch in the water and won't allow the sauce to create an emulsion.
Cacio e pepe is a deceptively simple recipe to make. This classic Italian pasta dish requires only three ingredients — pasta, freshly ground pepper, and real pecorino Romano cheese. Whenever I'm in Rome, I always order a bowl of cacio e pepe at least once.
Grating the cheese very finely on a Microplane instead of shredding it helps it incorporate more smoothly. Finishing the pasta and cheese in a separate skillet ensures that the cheese doesn't clump up from the residual heat in the pasta pan.
Let the pasta cool slightly—Ripping hot pasta plus finely shredded or grated cheese inevitably yields a clumpy sauce. Letting the pasta cool for 2 minutes before tossing ensures a perfectly creamy sauce.
This results in water that beautifully emulsifies with the cheese and butter to create the extra creamy, rich sauce. The cheese: many recipes call for Pecorino Romano OR Parmesan but authentic Cacio e Pepe is always made with Pecorino Romano (it is literally in the name!) because it is 3X more flavorful! Flavor.
Look no further than Chianti Classico for a classic red pairing. While most people associate this wine with flavorful meats like Florentine steak, the sharpness of the cacio e pepe holds its own and makes Chianti an unexpected accompaniment.
Spaghetti: Cacio e Pepe is traditionally made with some kind of long pasta (noodle); I like to use spaghetti but I've also seen it with bucatini, linguine, fettuccine, and even tagliatelle. You can use either dry or fresh pasta.
The trick is to toss the cheese with starch before heating it. As the starch heats up and gels, it stabilizes the cheese so it won't break. I tried the method for this Cacio e Pepe, which makes for a durable sauce that doesn't break even after raising the temperature until the sauce boils (usually a mortal sin).
The key is to find that goldilocks balance! Adding a little bit of cold water to the cheese and pepper before can help balance out the hot pasta water, creating that perfect, creamy sauce. Use a little less salt than you normally would for your pasta water. Remember that the Pecorino Romano is already very salty!
Cacio e pepe means 'cheese and pepper' in several central Italian dialects. In keeping with its name, the dish contains grated pecorino romano and black pepper, together with tonnarelli or spaghetti.
Have you roasted cauliflower before and it came out tough or mushy? A common problem is either roasting it at too low a temperature or stopping once the cauliflower is tender—both mean that the florets do not caramelize.
If you're planning to roast the cauliflower whole or slice it into steaks, slice off the thick stem at the base. Drop the whole cauliflower head upside-down into cool, salted water. Let it soak for 10 to 15 minutes to remove dirt, residue and bugs.
It's easy to cook, which gives it a creamier, nuttier taste that takes on the flavor of whatever you use as seasoning. How you cook cauliflower matters. You can keep more of its nutrients if you steam, roast, or stir-fry it.
The most readily available sauce-thickener is flour. For a too-thin sauce, try adding a slurry (equal parts flour and water, whisked together) or beurre manie (equal parts softened butter and flour, kneaded together to form a paste)—both are ideal thickeners for rich and creamy sauces, such as steak sauce recipes.
Flour or cornstarch can both thicken a liquid. In a small separate bowl, mix a tablespoon of either flour or cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of cheese sauce until the mixture is smooth. Add the mixture back to the milky cheese sauce, and stir until combined and desired thickness is achieved.
Use equal parts water and cornstarch, mix, then add it to the sauce. Only pour in a small amount at first. Cornstarch is a powerful thickening agent, so you might need less than a teaspoon for a large pot of spaghetti sauce.
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Prep time: 20 mins
