Cacio e Pepe with Peas and Favas

By Melissa Clark

Cacio e Pepe with Peas and Favas
Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Total Time
35 minutes
Rating
5(525)
Notes
Read community notes

Peeling fava beans is a fiddly task that includes removing the beans from their pods, blanching them and then peeling off the skins. But for a light dish of pasta, peas, cracked black pepper and cheese, it’s well worth the effort. Favas can be found in farmers markets in the spring and summer. This dish is one of their highest uses.

Featured in: These Beans Look Better Undressed

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: give recipes to anyone
    As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.
    Subscribe

  • Print Options

Advertisement

Ingredients

Yield:2 to 4 servings
  • 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
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

542 calories; 19 grams fat; 9 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 7 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 70 grams carbohydrates; 13 grams dietary fiber; 15 grams sugars; 29 grams protein; 596 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.

Powered by

Preparation

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

Similar Recipes

Ratings

5 out of 5
525 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Private Notes

Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.

Cooking Notes

Perry Brown

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.

Gerry

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.

Hank

This dish is too rich. If I make it again I would use half the cheese. As it were, I sued half the amount of butter.

Wendy

Didn't have pecorino or chives. Didn't matter. This was quick, easy and delicious, especially since I shelled everything the day before. I added the peas and skinned Favas to the sauce before the pasta and cheese since they had come out of the fridge and I wanted them to heat through. You may want to add more pepper to taste.

Footnotes

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!

kathleen

try with asparagus and peas

Pat n Davis CA

This recipe is a home run. Followed the recipe exactly. Even though fresh fava beans are a pain, they’re worth it. However, we two are retired and have time to share shelling and skinning. The fresh peas were the first we had this year. I have no problem altering the original cacio e pepe with the addition of the vegetables. I added a little more than 1/4 C pasta water to loosen the sauce but this surely varies for all cooks. We will make this numerous times this summer-again, a home run

Stirling Trayle

Easy to make an okay version..treacherous to make well. The secret to Cacio e Pepe is in the exact nature of the pasta you are using, the moisture level of the cheese, how far along in the cooking process the pasta is when you put it in the pan, and how much water is required to create the creamy sauce. In my experience, 1/4 cup would never make it. I usually use at least a cup of that lovely pasta water to get what I think of as something resembling what I get in Italy.

jane

Melissa Clark solved the clumping problem with cacio e pepe. Genis.

Madeline

Meat gets recommended rarer and rarer and pasta gets recommended more and more al dente. Someday soon we will be sitting here and eating our raw meat and uncooked pasta.

Lori in Vancouver

I have tried and tried to make cacio e pepe before and failed miserably, creating a coagulated mess of cheese over pasta. Not this time. Thank you, Melissa! The sequencing and timing of ingredients is critical, and I followed the recipe closely, curbing my tendencies to riff. I did stray in one inconsequential way: I used all fresh fava beans because I did not have peas. It was delicious, paired with a viognier, roussnne, Chardonnay blend.

cheesepuff

.The pasta in the photo looks extremely dry and neither cacio'd nor pepe'd.

Hernán Otaño

Fantastic recipe. I added asparagus seeing I had some fresh from the local farm stand and used frozen peas. Plus added grilled lemon chicken. In my opinion, this recipe solves the clumping problem many have when making this dish. The secret is to have the pasta water at hand whole you mix the cheese in. Wonderful.

Sarah

I added a little bit of lemon zest at serving to make this sing spring!

sva

Subbed asparagus for fava. Sautéed it ahead of time rather than parboiling. Used full pound of pasta and tried to double the ingredients but it was too much. The cheese clumped together, but had shredded pecorino instead of grated. Note to use only grated.

Pat Rooney

So easy and delish! Beans and peas required just two minutes more cooking time than indicated.

condiment queen

I subbed more peas for the fava beans and used frozen peas. So delish and quick.

geteb

Oy! 35 mins to peel (& blanch & peel again) fava beans & peas? Try ~2 hrs. That said, they were my garden favas & peas & I'm retired, so I have the time. Followed the recipe adding a few more favas & peas & finishing with more grated cheese on top. Liked it, but didn't love it. Guess I just like a little more "sauce" w/ my pasta - personal preference for sure.

Karen

The favas I used definitely needed more than one minute in the boiling water. They were ready to be peeled, but were not cooked enough (at least for our taste), so that was a huge disappointment. The pasta was perfect!

Shoowoo

Wonderful! We made exactly as written, and my husband commented he felt like we were in Italy. We used our own fava beans and peas from the garden and it is definitely worth the effort. And I have to say, when you have a glass of wine, and you’re sitting in the sun shines shelling with your family, I didn’t feel like much of an effort at all.

CP

Delicious and easy! The only time consuming part was shelling the fresh fava beans. I used frozen peas and it came out great. I blanched the beans and peas in the pot of water first, then salted the water more and cooked the pasta in it. I will definitely use this recipe to make plain ol' Cacio Pepe next time (without the beans and peas). The cheese melted into it perfectly...no cheesy globs!

bee g

Added zest of one lemon, no chives on hand, but lovely way to use fresh fava beans. Shelling/peeling a bit of a pain but worth it.

Flavia

Fresh spring time colors and flavors accompanied by course black pepper, formaggio, and chives, but the dish does not “pop”. 1/4 cup pasta water definitely helps make the sauce more creamy.

David

I agree about frozen peas, but fresh fave make this dish. I cook the peas with the pasta for the last few minutes, otherwise followed the recipe as is. I think the nutty flavour of wholewheat spaghetti adds a nice complexity as well (but definitely use Italian pasta).

Emily W.

Made with egg tagliatelle, fresh favas from the farmers market, and frozen peas. Easy (besides peeling the favas), impressive, and tasted amazing. Will definitely make again.

Private notes are only visible to you.

Recipe Tags

Advertisement

or to save this recipe.

More Recipes From Melissa Clark

Trending on Cooking

Cooking Guides