Miso paste gives this take on the classic Roman pecorino-and-pepper pasta an extra savory, satisfying bite.
Ingredients
Serves 4
Step 1
Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil. Add the noodles and blanch them for about 30-60 seconds, stirring with chopsticks to separate the strands. Drain immediately, reserving about 1 cup (250 ml) of the cooking water.
Step 2
Melt 4 tablespoons (60 g) of the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the black pepper and stir for 20–30 seconds, until fragrant and toasted. Pour in about half the reserved cooking water, then add the noodles, miso and remaining butter. Turn off the heat, then add half the pecorino and season with a little sea salt. Toss the noodles until the cheese melts and the noodles are well coated (if the noodles seem dry, add some more of the reserved cooking water).
Step 3
Transfer to serving plates and top with the remaining pecorino and, if you like, more pepper
Leave a Review
Reviews (6)
Back to TopAnswer to the reviewer hesitating over hard noodles: Yes, this wouldn't work with boxed noodles. Note that the recipe calls for homemade noodles which are much softer. The timing would need to be adapted for store-bought noodles.
Anonymous
Louisville KY
10/19/2022
I'm confused. You only have the noodles in boiling water for 30-60 seconds? And then when they're put in the frying pan, you immediately turn the heat off? How hard are the noodles when doing this? It doesn't seem like they'd be cooked at all!
beebo1953
Cathedral City, CA
2/27/2021
The 750 g fresh pasta equates to 1 lb or so (440-500 g) of dried pasta, so that number makes sense for 4. I tried this using commercial dried penne for a quick lunch - draining them a couple of minutes early when they were quite al dente - and it worked nicely. I recommend sprinkling on a topping or two (vegetables, herbs etc) for variety - I used toasted sesame seeds and microgreens because they were what I had; another time I’ll try chopped scallions - but it’s good by itself too
rmbarr
Brooklyn, NY
1/21/2021
A hit. But be careful: this can get too salty fast...salted pasta water, pasta dough with salt, salted butter, miso, pecorino...all salty. Next time I will not salt the pasta water. I’ll also add the miso to the pan before the noodles next time, it was a bit hard to get it evenly distributed. Made half and found it to be ~3 large portions.
Anonymous
Colorado
1/10/2021
Being a miso lover, I will definitely try this - but a question: 750 g noodles for 4 people?? That seems like a lot!!
wcavers
Victoria, B.C., Canada
12/31/2020
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