Cacio e Pepe Risotto - the perfect Valentine's dinner
Say 'I love you' this Valentine's Day with one of the creamiest risottos you'll ever make. Finished off with plenty of Pecorino cheese, butter, and of course lots of pepper!
Servings: 2
Calories: 694kcal
Equipment
- heavy casserole dish or non-stick pan
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp black peppercorns
- 50 g unsalted butter
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 shallot very finely diced
- 150 g risotto rice Arborio works well
- 125 ml white wine dry
- 500 ml chicken stock or vegetable
- 60 g Pecorino cheese finely grated (plus extra for serving if you wish)
- 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley optional
Instructions
- Taking a small non-stick frying pan, over a medium-high heat, dry fry the tablespoon of black peppercorns for 3-4 minutes until fragrant. Place in a spice grinder, or pestle and mortar, and grind to a fine powder.
- Melt 25g of the butter in the casserole dish over a medium heat. Add the very finely diced shallot, crushed garlic, salt, and 1/2 tsp of the ground pepper. Fry gently, stirring often, for 5 minutes until the shallot has softened.
- Meanwhile, place your stock in a saucepan nearby and keep warm.
- Add the risotto rice to the casserole dish and stir to coat in the butter. Cook for a couple of minutes until the edges of the rice are turning translucent. At this point, pour in your dry white wine and bubble until it has reduced by two-thirds.
- You now start to add your stock a ladle at a time, stirring continuously. The process of adding the stock and the rice absorbing all the liquid should take around 20 minutes. At that point, you will have rice in a creamy sauce that still retains a little bite. Test to make sure, and if you feel it's got a little too much bite, add another 50ml of water.
- Stir in the finely grated Pecorino, remaining 25g of butter, and an additional teaspoon of the ground black pepper. Stir for another 2 minutes to melt the cheese and butter. Serve sprinkled with extra Pecorino cheese, and chopped parsley if you wish.
Notes
- Arborio rice is the preferred rice to use for this dish.
- You could use Parmesan, but traditionally, Cacio e Pepe is made with Pecorino, as it brings a more salty, sheep's-milk flavour.
- The dish is supposed to be pretty peppery. I've added 1 and 1/2 tsp of pepper to the dish, but you should have some left over from the tablespoon you grind. Feel free to spice it up some more if you wish!
Nutrition
Calories: 694kcal | Carbohydrates: 76g | Protein: 22g | Fat: 32g | Saturated Fat: 19g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 93mg | Sodium: 1026mg | Potassium: 511mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 953IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 374mg | Iron: 5mg