If you haven’t come across Cacio e Pepe, you’re in for a treat!
This dish was inspired by the legendary simple 3-ingredient pasta dish of cheese, black pepper and spaghetti.
It’s a brilliant pantry meal, toss freshly cooked pasta in mountains of finely grated parmesan or pecorino and then use the heat from the pasta and some cooking water to create an oozy cheesey sauce.
The black pepper adds some bite to rescue it from one dimension.
So of course I had to try making a healthier version by subbing in steamed broccoli for the carby spaghetti.
Talk about a winner. Fresh and green from the broccoli. Still satisfyingly cheesy. My type of one pot meal.
To manage expectations if you’re used to the pasta version, the lack of starch in the broccoli cooking water means the sauce is more chunky and stringy than smooth creamy.
Not a problem for me. But would hate for you to be disappointed.
And make sure you use a microplane grater or something that will get the cheese particles equally small for this. If the cheese is too chunky it won’t melt.
Cacio e Pepe Broccoli
Ingredients
- 125 g parmesan cheese , finely grated
- 1 head broccoli 300g / 10oz
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Bring about 1cm (1/2 in) salted water to the boil in a medium saucepan. Meanwhile, chop your broccoli into bite sized little trees and slice the stems. When the water is boiling add the broccoli to the pot and cover. Simmer for 4 minutes or until the broccoli is no longer crunchy, drain into a bowl to keep the cooking water.
- Place drained broccoli in a warm serving bowl. Top with cheese. Add 2 tablespoons of the reserved cooking water and stir until the cheese melts to coat the broccoli. If it isn’t melting add another tablespoon of cooking water. But don’t be tempted to add too much or you will end up with a watery puddle.
- Taste broccoli and season with lashing of black pepper. It probably won’t need salt with all the cheese.
Nutrition
Substitutions
pantry-friendly – commercial or home frozen broccoli. Just simmer broccoli until hot before draining.
Keto / ultra low carb – replace half the broccoli with baby spinach leaves.
dairy-free – replace cheese with macadamia cream, dairy-free pesto or almond hummus (no need to add the cooking water for these)
more substantial (carb lovers) – cooked spaghetti (and use the pasta cooking water for the sauce).
more substantial (low carb) – extra broccoli, extra cheese, shaved parmesan to serve, roast macadamias, roast almonds, roast walnuts, almond bread, poached or boiled egg to serve.
Low FODMAP – use only broccoli florettes (not stems). Replace 1/2 the broccoli with baby spinach.
different vegetables – green beans, cauliflower or asparagus can be cooked in a similar manner (just adjust the cooking time accordingly). I’m also thinking the cheese extravaganza would be lovely instead of the egg in this sauteed cabbage dish. Cooked chickpeas.
different cheese – any hard or melting cheese will work. Pecorino is traditional. You could skip the cooking water and just crumble in feta or goats cheese and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil to make the sauce.
carnivore – use as a side for roast chicken. Or add browned chunks of bacon, sausage or some quick pulled chicken.
more fancy / for entertaining – toss in fresh parsley or basil and serve with shaved parmesan or toasted sliced almonds on top. And serve some warm almond bread (or sourdough) and butter on the side
Waste Avoidance Strategy
parmesan – wrap in baking paper and store in the fridge in a sealed paper bag or airtight container. Will keep for months. Can be frozen if you’re going away.
broccoli – will keep wrapped in a plastic bag in the fridge for 1-2 weeks. Can be frozen (if you have time chop before freezing so it will defrost quickly in the pan).
freshly ground black pepper – keep it on the pantry.
Problem Solving Guide
bland – add more cheese. Or some salt.
too dry – drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil.
too cheesey – next time use less cheese. For now a squeeze of lemon can freshen things up.
too watery – you’ve added too much cooking water (or not drained the broccoli properly). Next time be careful to drain thoroughly and use less cooking water. For now serve with a soup spoon or some almond bread for soaking up the delicious cheesy juices.
cheese not melting – the cheese needs to be very finely grated to melt from the heat of the broccoli. Pop the cheesey broccoli back in the pan and cook, stirring constantly until the cheese melts. A non stick pan is best for this job as the melted cheese likes to stick.
didn’t reserve the cooking liquid? – just use some boiling water from the kettle.
Prepare Ahead
Best when freshly made. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or can be frozen. To serve, warm in a pan with a little oil.
Add to my Old Favourite Recipes
Good recipe as is, and very young children friendly. Much better for my palate with a little acid from lemon juice.
Wow Elizabeth – very impressed your children were OK with it. Mine are still a work in progress with anything green 🙂
One of my favourites now but I make it with cauliflower. I always forget I need a big bowl for stirring though
ooh great idea to use cauliflower Judith – I’m thinking it would be even better with roast cauli – yum!
And yes you need a big bowl 🙂
Definintely, Im doing this too!!!
Brilliant Maria!
Delicious! Served with sausages. I could eat this often!
Brilliant Jessica – love the idea of serving with sausages 🙂
This recipe so excited me, I made it twice—the first time with spaghetti. I had heard about the spaghetti version but never had it. Then I saved the pasta water (2 tablespoons salt added to a gallon of water) in the refrigerator. Two days later, I heated up the pasta water while cutting the broccoli. Meanwhile, my Utah guy grated the Parmesan. We also had crusty garlic bread left over from the spaghetti. It reheated in its foil while we did the rest.
The Utah guy may as well be Italian because he loves pasta so much, but he proclaimed the broccoli was better than the spaghetti version! He only furrowed his brow a little when I said broccoli was healthier than pasta. Really? He looked sad to hear that pasta was lacking in anything at all.
Brilliant Gay!
I think that Utah guy sounds like a keeper 🙂
Just tried this, easy-peasy and absolutely delicious. Added some gnocchi
My irishman would approve of the gnocchi Patricia 🙂
Yum! I got this email just as I was about to make dinner & it was perfect! Easy, tasty, and ready in 10 minutes. I added chopped pecans & was happy with the results.
ooh nice addition with the pecans Ginna!
You inspired me with this recipe! I had been craving “something” Alfredo, so I microwave steamed half a dozen frozen broccoli florets. Meanwhile, I heated a pat of butter and a couple tablespoons heavy cream, a pinch of red pepper flakes and some parm until heated through. I drained and rinsed a bag of Konjac noodles, dumped them into a bowl and stirred the broc into the sauce; poured the sauce over the noodles and topped with fresh grated black peppper and a pinch more parm. It was awesome! Thanks for the idea.
You’re welcome Linda! Your additions sound delish!
Good lawwwwrd this looks good! I’m currently on a 7 day fast but I cannot wait to try this one out!
Oh my goodness Elanya. How are you finding your 7 day fast?
Hope you enjoy the broccoli when it’s time to eat again!
I didn’t think that I wanted to make an entire meal of this, so cooked the Quick Tuna Ragu at the same time. I microwaved the broccoli rather than boiling it, but should have given it a bit longer. The pasta water gave me a silky sauce, although I had difficulty getting everything to combine, so I probably should have added the cheese and water in batches. I’ll definitely try a hybrid of this and the Broccoli al Limone some other time.
Also, finely grating 125g of Parmesan by hand is quite a bit of work.
Yes it is Mark!
I think of it as a good workout. You could use a food processor but the texture isn’t as nice.
I did finally have this as a meal in its own right, and while the cheese in the broccoli florets were nice, it’s not much of a meal on its own. Even with lashings of pepper and Parmesan, it still needed some extra zing, which some sliced olives provided. Also, even with chickpeas and pasta, it was a bit insubstantial.
You know Mark – I’ve been thinking this recipe needs some extra protein to make it more filling. I’ll have to think about the best way to do that.
This is good. I can’t get hard cheeses so I had to use pre-grated parmesan. Probably not as good as grating hard cheese. It wasn’t substantial enough for me so I added 1/2 can of garbanzos.
Glad you were able to use pre-grated parmesan Paul – and good idea to add the chickpeas for a more man sized meal 🙂