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Cacio e Pepe alla Carbonara
 Moderated by: Vargr, shadowcat-x, boojum
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 Posted: Tue Nov 20th, 2018 05:26 pm
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Vargr
Vargr


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Note - before someone calls out a 'hit' on Vrghr: This is NOT Cacio e Pepe! That is a classic (and amazingly tasty) Italian dish. This takes some of the ideas of a cheese and pepper pasta and hijacks it, but this pie is so much denser and substantial than that amazing, creamy, iconic dish that if wuff hadn't provided this disclaimer, Vrghr might well have found himself in an interview with "Mr. Big", and headed for the "ice" bath! *grin*

One of Vrghr’s friends was chatting about their “springform pan”, and asked wuffy what it might be used for? They’d gotten in years ago to replace one destroyed by a fire, but hadn’t used the original (it was a gift) and weren’t sure all the uses for this device.

Wuff mentioned a very common use was cheese cake, but that there were lots of other things that could be done with one. Then Vrghr decided to make one of those “other things” for her, for a supper on Saturday night.

This dish has lots of origins. Many Italian cooks have made “spaghetti pie” to use up extra spaghetti. Wuff also incorporated ideas from a classic Italian white pasta dish, Cacio e Pepe (Cheese and pepper) since his friend didn’t have any Marina or supplies to create one.

Of course, Vrghr being Vrghr, wuff couldn’t help but add a heaping helping of BACON to the creation! *grin*

There are a lot of similar recipes to this on line. Wuff referenced quite a few in getting the right temperatures and proportions of ingredients for this dish. All of them sound like they would make a delightful meal!

So don’t take this recipe as “gospel”. Have fun and put your own spin on it! Add prosciutto instead of bacon. Toss in some mushrooms, or some spinach. Switch out your cheeses. Etc.

A friend at work proposed making a “stuffed spaghetti pie” from this, which sounded FANTASTIC once we got the ideas worked out.

Stuffed Spaghetti Pie Variation: Basically, substitute a Marinara sauce for the white sauce listed below. Keep the eggs to bind it, and adjust the cheeses as desired to suit a red sauce. Then only fill the springform pan about ½ way full before adding a layer of pre-cooked Italian mini-meatballs and sliced Italian sausage (also pre-cooked). Top it off with the rest of the sauced spaghetti and pour some remaining sauce on top with a bit of grated cheese atop that. MMMMMM! Wuff is going to HAVE to try this version too!

Without further ado, this is what we enjoyed this weekend!

Ingredients:
1 Lb spaghetti
6 strips Thick Cut Peppered Bacon
6 oz. + ~ 3 TBS coarsely grated Fontina cheese (about 2 C + 3 TBS )
6 oz. coarsely grated aged Pecorino Romano (about 2 C )
1 1/2 C half-and-half or heavy cream (or milk)
1/2 C plus 1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 Tbsp. freshly ground black pepper, plus more for serving
8 oz. ricotta
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (fine grated) for serving

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375-400°F.

Thoroughly butter or lightly spray an 8" springform pan with nonstick spray. Wrap bottom tightly in foil to prevent any leaks and place on a rimmed baking sheet (wuff’s didn’t leak at all, but why take chances?)

In a large pot, bring a few quarts of heavily-salted water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook until just barely ‘al dente’. You want to purposely under-cook it a little, since it will cook more as the pie bakes

In a medium sauce pan over medium high heat, cook the bacon until it renders out most of the fat and starts to crisp up a little. Don’t let it get too crisp, or it will make hard crunch nuggets in the pie

Reduce heat to medium-low. Pour off all but about 1 TBS of the bacon fat (save the fat for future uses) and add about ½ C of the cream/half & half, 6 oz of the Fontina (keep the remaining 3 TBS set aside to top the pie), Pecorino, and black pepper. Stir and heat until the cheeses melt and incorporate into the liquid

Remove the pot from heat and stir in the ricotta and the remaining cream/half & half (this will cool things so the eggs don’t scramble). Add the beaten eggs and continue stirring until everything smooths and melts together. If necessary (probably won’t need to) , return pot to medium low heat to get it all the melt together

Keep mixture warm over lowest heat until spaghetti is ready. Place the drained spaghetti in a very large mixing bowl and pour over all but about ¾ Cup of the cheese and bacon mixture. Stir/toss until all the spaghetti is coated

Transfer the coated pasta to the buttered springform pan, pressing down to compact lightly. Pour the remaining cheese mixture evenly over the top. Using tongs or a fork, pull up a few strands of pasta so they form loops just above surface of pie (these will get browned and give texture to the top). Sprinkle with the reserved 3 TBS of the Fontina cheese

Bake pasta until cheese is bubbling and pie is golden brown on edges and sides, 35–45 minutes.
If desired, switch oven to Broil and brown the top about 6 inches away from the broiler to add some crisp texture and color

Remove from oven and let cool 10–15 minutes before removing sides of pan (if you serve it while too warm, the pie will slump when you cut it, like wuff’s did)

Slide a thin spatula or butter knife around the edges of the pie to help release it from pan, then release the sides and remove

Sprinkle the top with fine grated Parmigiano and a few cranks of pepper

Slice into wedges and serve warm.

!DEVOUR!



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