STEP 01
Toast & Boil
Toast cracked pepper in a dry wide pan over medium heat for 30 seconds until fragrant. Boil pici in well-salted water until al dente, reserving 300 ml of pasta water.
A TRAVELLING TUSCAN CLASSIC.
Pici Cacio e Pepe
Prep 30 minCook 10 min4
01 — INGREDIENTS
Ingredients
- 400 g pici pasta (or thick spaghetti)
- 200 g pecorino romano, finely grated
- 2 tbsp whole black peppercorns, freshly cracked
- Sea salt for the water
- 3 tbsp La Spedizione extra virgin olive oil
- large pot
- wide pan
- microplane or fine grater
- tongs
Hand-rolled pici, pecorino, black pepper, and a generous finish of La Spedizione. Three ingredients and one technique — the dish that travels best.
02 — STEPS
Method
STEP 02
Emulsify
Add a ladle of pasta water to the pepper pan. Off the heat, toss in the drained pici and most of the pecorino. Stir hard, adding water in small splashes, until a glossy sauce forms.
STEP 03
Finish
Plate immediately. Top with the last of the pecorino and a slow drizzle of La Spedizione. Crack more pepper. Serve in warmed bowls.
03 — ABOUT THE OIL
La Spedizione
La Spedizione is the oil made for the journey. Blended to keep its character across distance and time, it is the most balanced of the five — neither the loudest nor the quietest, but the one that travels well to any table.
Its profile is structured and savoury: warm spice, toasted nut, a clean peppery finish that arrives without shouting. This is the oil to keep on the kitchen counter, the one you reach for instinctively when cooking for guests you cannot quite predict.
Cacio e pepe is the dish that mirrors it. Three ingredients, no place to hide — the cheese, the pepper, and the oil all have to be honest. La Spedizione's pepper note doubles the cracked peppercorns; its quiet bitterness cuts through the richness of pecorino; its weight binds the sauce without thickening it.
Drizzle only at the end, when the pasta is already plated. The residual heat is enough to release the aromatics; any earlier and you lose the journey.
PAIRS WITH
La Spedizione
La Spedizione's structured, slightly spicy character echoes the cracked pepper and lifts the cheese.
SHOP THIS OIL