Cacio E Pepe California Style

Pasta cooking water is often referred to as kitchen gold-- well, at least in our house it is. Warm spaghetti, a few sautéed vegetables or aromatics (or even not), a little cheese, a dollop of the starchy liquid and a pasta sauce is born.

Cacio E Pepe in it's purest form is basically olive oil, maybe some garlic, lots of pepper, handfuls of parmesan cheese and pasta cooking water all swirled together with the al dente noodles to make a light, quick sauce.

For our California version I searched through the fridge and came up with a bit of ricotta cheese which I added to the mix along with a sprinkle of crushed red peppers. Creamy warm and comforting -- La Cucina Povera for modern times, a recession proof dinner.