Monthly Archives: January 2011

Cacio e Pepe

This simple little Italian number is literally translated ‘cheese and pepper.’ And it couldn’t be easier!

I must warn you, folks–it is spicy. Black pepper-style spicy. I hope your tongues can handle it, but if not, click on over to my Penne Rosa for a milder but equally delicious experience.

I already know this is a great dish to make when my husband is out of town, because it’s freshly made with minimal ingredients and minimal effort. And when he’s not around, well, let’s just say I’m reluctant to make much of an effort in the kitchen. Just the thought of turning on the stove makes me feel downright lazy. So let it be known I will turn to this!

The original recipe was hitting my personal saltiness limit, so I downed the amount of salt–but taste it and add more salt if your taste buds demand it.

Ingredients

(Serves 4)

1 lb thin spaghetti noodles

1 c reserved pasta water

1 c grated Pecorino Romano cheese

1 1/2 tsp salt

4 tsp cracked black peppercorns

2 TBS butter

First, let’s examine and rejoice in the simplicity of the ingredient list. Such a humble looking group! But destined for greatness nonetheless.

Boil the pasta in salted water (salted = important!) until al dente.

While it’s doing it’s thang, bash up the peppercorns with a mortar and pestle.

If you don’t have one, put the peppercorns in a closed ziploc bag and go at ’em with a rolling pin. Where there’s a will, there’s a way, say I.

Now let’s grate up a hefty pile of Pecorino Romano. I used to cut the skin off my finger with my regular grater and bleed all over my ingredients until Santa rewarded my year of goodness (hah!) with a microplane zester. The grated cheese was practically leaping off the block. This thing is a contraption of genius.

How I love it.

Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water, and drain the noodles.

In the same (now empty) pot, add the pasta water and 2 TBS of butter.

Over medium heat, melt the butter and then add the pasta back in.

Toss to coat it in the sauce. Now add half the cheese (ouch–can someone say ‘overexposed’?) . . .

. . . half the pepper . . .

. . . and all the salt.

Mix that good stuff around.

Serve into bowls, and top each one with the remaining cheese and pepper.

Great job! You just made an Italian original.

I must say–it would be so easy and SO fantastic to add some veggies to this. Some freshly chopped Roma tomatoes. Some sauteed zucchini. Some diced artichoke hearts. Or even some protein–shrimp! Chopped up grilled chicken! Grilled salmon! This dish can be your canvas for a limitless array of ingredients. Take hold of the power as the kitchen artiste!

Make it today. Or tomorrow! Or never! I love you regardless!

Click here for printer-friendly version: Cacio e Pepe

The Hunger Games trilogy

So it’s been forever since I posted my last book review. I’ve been reading lots, but nothing that motivated me to hop on here and push a book down your throats. Which is what my book reviews tend to become–read this or I’ll challenge you to a duel. Read this or I’ll haunt your attic for the rest of your life. Okay, I haven’t pulled out the attic bit yet, but the point is that my book reviews tend to spiral into coercive threats.

I finally wrapped up a series that really put me in the mood to threaten you all again: I just finished the Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins.

So here goes: read these books or I’ll never . . . um . . . never . . . seriously, I will never . . . right!

Wow. The holidays must have really sapped the aggression out of my nature. I need to get my violent side back up and running asap.

Anyway, let’s hop on topic. These books are fun. Vivacious. Original. And man is the plot ever surprising. If you had asked me to make 3 predictions about where the story would head after I finished the first book, I would have been wrong on every count.

It’s not great literature, but it’s fun in the same way that watching an action movie is fun. The writing is very visual, and very emotional. It would make a fantastic video game, and a fun movie as long as the director didn’t overdo the special effects. It’s good teen fiction, and great entertainment for adult-type people as well.

Let’s put it in a nutshell: imagine a dystopian world in which Harry Potter has to face down his opponents in the TriWizard tournament, except that they fight to the death. And there you have it. Are you with me?

No? Okay, I’ll expand. Here’s a little plot summary of the first book: the USA fell apart long ago. The center of power is now the Capitol, a city of decadence and riches which rules over and is supported by twelve districts. Plastic surgery is the norm in the Capitol, where people get their skin dyed pink or green, have jewels inserted into their skin, and decorate themselves differently with each new fad. The districts are another story: poor, overworked, dirty, and hungry. Our heroine, Katniss Everdeen, hails from District Twelve, which is a mining district. An electric fence surrounds her town, coal dust is in the air, and hunger is a daily part of life. In order to punish the districts for a rebellion that took place 75 years prior, the Capitol created a yearly event called the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games is basically a televised tournament in which two teenagers from each of the twelve districts fight to the death. It’s the ultimate reality TV show, and it’s broadcasted all over the country. The Capitol goes wild for their favorite contestants, and greedily eats up the drama that for them is merely a diversion, but for the contestants is almost certain death.

Is it violent? Yes. But not hideously so. I think it depends on your level of sensitivity. Mine is unnaturally high, and I have come through unscathed.

By the end of the first book, your heart will be racing, your palms sweating, and your left eye will start twitching. The only way to correct these symptoms is to snatch up the second book and start reading. Since my library took for-e-ver to send me the second book, my eye twitched for approximately ten weeks. If you noticed it, please don’t bring it up–it’s still a sore spot for me.

As the Hunger Games become the launching pad for a revolution, Katniss becomes a symbol for the oppressed districts . . . and I can’t tell you anything more.

My lips are sealed.

But lemme tell you–if you think you already know the gist, you don’t. It’s surprising. If I were a movie producer, I would have snatched this up as soon as it was published.