Test Kitchen Tuesday: Cacio e Pepe

It sounds fancy, but, this week’s TKT couldn’t be simpler. And, it is right up the alley of my mac’n cheese-favoring dinner audience.

2Chili was on the road for over a week, so for his first meal back home, I decided to offer up something I knew he would like – pasta with cheese. Nothing fancy, nothing fancy at all…

This was a nice recipe because it only made two servings, so I didn’t have to scale anything, and there are no leftovers.

Cacio e Pepe

Recipe Source: Bon Appetite (via epicurious.com)

Time Required: 15 minutes, start-to-finish

Skill Level (out of 5): 1

2Chili’s Taster Rating (out of 5): 3.5

“This is good, I could eat it again, but it is a little too buttery.”

The Cook’s Taster Rating (out of 5): 3.5

For once, I agree completely with 2Chili – too much butter, but otherwise pretty good.

Nutrition:

This one is pretty high in calories and fat due to the butter and cheese. I made it with the full 3 tbs of butter, but I used Earth Balance instead of regular butter. We agreed that the butter could definitely be reduced.

The Verdict:

This was not spectacular, but it was not bad. It was solidly “good.” I think it could be made healthier by reducing the butter – you could probably get away with just one tablespoon instead of three! 2Chili is not big on pepper (or spices, really), so I went light on the pepper, but you could definitely add plenty to this and it would be tasty.