Pasta Remix: Make Missy Robbins' Cacio E Pepe Kugel
Culinary superstar Missy Robbins has a collection of recipes out that will renew your love of jazzed-up home cooking. All these dishes are accessible and prefaced by anecdotes by Robbins that will delight you and pump you up for some awesome culinary projects. This spaghetti cacio e pepe kugel will become a new family favorite.
One of the best parts of taking time off from work was getting to attend holiday functions with family and friends. I came up with this dish for a Yom Kippur breakfast; it takes my Jewish heritage and love for Italian food and combines them in a traditional kugel (essentially a noodle casserole) with the flavors of cacio e pepe, a traditional Roman spaghetti dish. The result is a super simple dish packed with tons of pepper and the creaminess of Pecorino, creating an indulgent comfort food from two cultures meeting in the middle.
Reprinted with permission from Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner...Life
- 2 pounds ricotta
- 1 pound mascarpone
- 3 cups Pecorino Romano cheese
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 pounds dried linguine, fettuccine or spaghetti
- 1 tablespoon butter
- Heat the oven to 350ºF. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and generously season with salt.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the ricotta, mascarpone and 2 cups of the pecorino. Stir well to combine. Stir in the salt and black pepper.
- Place the pasta in the water and cook until just barely al dente, about 6 minutes. (The pasta will finish cooking in the casserole.) Drain and transfer it to the seasoned cheese mixture, stirring to coat the pasta.
- Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with the butter. Transfer the pasta-cheese mixture to the baking dish and top with the remaining cheese. Bake until the top and sides are crispy and golden brown, about 35 minutes. Sprinkle with more black pepper for garnish, cut into squares, and serve.