Cacio E Pepe Pizza

by Giada

★★★★★

(1 review)

Prep Time

10 minutes

Cook Time

10 minutes

Serves

4

Beginner

Photo Credit: Elizabeth Newman

Cacio E Pepe Pizza

Name: Cacio E Pepe Pizza
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: ¾ cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano; ¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan; 1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper; 1 pound pizza dough, (store-bought or Giada&#039,s pizza dough recipe); Flour; 2 tablespoons crushed ice; Olive oil (for drizzling, such as Fratepietro)

What I love about meeting other chefs is how much you can learn from each other - and that's how this recipe came to be. When I was filming Bobby and Giada in Italy, I took Bobby to one of my favorite pizzerias in the movie district of Rome. The restaurant is called Sforno, and it's headed by Chef Stefano Callegari - and this recipe is inspired by his genius method of making Cacio E Pepe Pizza.

To make a successful cacio e pepe pasta, pasta water is an imperative ingredient - so how do you emulate that on a pizza? Chef Stefano has a crazy way of making it happen, and it's absolutely genius. He places crushed ice cubes on the raw pizza dough, and when it cooks, it creates a starchy water in the center of the pizza... just like pasta water!

As soon as the pizza dough cooks, he sprinkles it heavily with freshly grated Pecorino and black pepper. The result is layers of different cheesy consistencies: you have the crispy pizza dough, a creamy velvety cheese layer, and the freshly grated cheese on top. I love this so much because in my experience, Pecorino tends to separate and get bitter when it's cooked in a hot oven - so this is an amazing way to bypass that and have all the flavors and textures of cacio e pepe.

In my version, I use a blend of Parmesan and Pecorino - but the method is the same. I give all credit to Chef Stefano for this one!