Cacio e Pepe with Peas and Favas
- Total Time
- 35 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- ½pound English pea pods, shucked (about ⅔ cup peas)
- 1¼pounds fava bean pods, shucked (about ½ cup peeled favas)
- ½pound spaghetti
- 2tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½tablespoon very coarsely ground black pepper
- ⅓cup shredded pecorino Romano, more for serving
- ½cup grated Parmesan
- Coarse kosher sea salt, to taste
- Extra virgin olive oil, for serving
- Freshly snipped chives, preferably with blossoms, for garnish
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
508 calories; 16 grams fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 6 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 70 grams carbohydrates; 13 grams dietary fiber; 15 grams sugars; 27 grams protein; 576 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Bring a medium saucepot of salted water to a boil. Fill a medium bowl with water and ice and set a fine mesh strainer in the bowl. (Be sure to keep ice out of strainer.) Blanch peas for 30 seconds and use a slotted spoon to transfer peas to strainer in ice bath. Let sit for 5 minutes and pull up strainer to drain peas. Repeat process with fava beans, cooking for 1 minute. (You can use same pot of boiling water that you used for peas.) When fava beans have been blanched and cooled, slip off peels.
- Step 2
Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until 1 minute shy of al dente. Drain, reserving ½ cup cooking water.
- Step 3
In a large skillet, melt 1 tablespoon butter. Add pepper and sauté for 1 minute, or until fragrant. Add ¼ cup of the cooking water and the remaining butter to pan. Stir until butter is melted and sauce begins to thicken, about 30 seconds.
- Step 4
Add cooked pasta, pecorino and Parmesan and toss until cheese melts, about 30 seconds. Add peas and fava beans. Toss very well to coat, adding more pasta water if pan seems dry. Season with salt to taste. To serve, sprinkle each portion with more pecorino and drizzle with olive oil. Garnish with chives.
Private Notes
Comments
For convenience sake, I would recommend using frozen peas and fava beans. If I had time to shell peas and peel fava beans, I would have time to cook something else. Cacio e Pepe is supposed to be a dish that can be prepared in about the time that it takes to cook pasta.
Picked up fava beans at the farmers market yesterday. Drove 5 hours to the cabin. Invited neighbours in for dinner - had this on the table 30 minutes start to finish. Fantastic! Mini tweaks - a big dollop of creme fraiche and lemon zest added to the final toss. Used an organic linguine from Monastero Di Montebello, Italy. Definitely on the easy and good list.
This dish is perfect! In the past, I've struggled with Cacio e Pepe. The cheese would seize and make a globby mess, but Melissa's technique here worked like a charm. I added the pasta to the skillet and stirred before adding the cheese and served up perfectly coated, flavorful pasta! I didn't find the dish too rich at all and have made it with the peas and fava beans, with slivered asparagus, and with no add-ins. It's delicious!
What is the difference between shredding and grating in this recipe?
In the UK, fresh fava beans are called broad beans. They're used in many recipes and almost never peeled if the are at least moderately fresh. If you can't be bothered to peel, don't do it! We make this dish 'no-peel' all the time and it's great.
Don't peel the beans!! Why waste all the flavor, fiber, and nutrients! After peeling, they are slimy insipid little things. Worthless. Go for the great taste of unpeeled fava beans!!
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