Cacio e Pepe Pastina

You all love Cacio e Pepe and pastina as much as we do, so we thought it would be a great idea to combine them for a delicious bowl of comfort.  This comes together in less than 15 minutes and anyone can make it.  Pastina is tiny pasta that comes in many shapes and cooks quickly.  It’s delicate and delicious!  (The star shape is our personal fav!)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp unsalted butter

5 cloves garlic, minced

4 cups broth

1 cup pastina

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp black pepper

2/3 cup heavy cream

1 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Heat a large skillet or braising pan over medium high heat.  Melt butter.  Add garlic and cook 2-3 minutes.

Add pastina to pan.  Move around gently in butter and garlic to slightly toast.  Pour broth over pastina.  Bring to a boil.  Once boiling, turn heat down to low.  Cook 5-6 minutes or until broth is nearly absorbed.

Turn heat off.  Add heavy cream, salt, pepper and grated Parmesan.  The heat from the pastina will heat the heavy cream and melt the cheese.  Note that this will thicken very quickly so you want to remove from the heat when there is still some liquid present or it will become too thick.  If mixture becomes too thick, simply add more heavy cream or broth.

Taste and adjust salt, pepper and Parmesan as needed.

Serve immediately.  Garnish with more Parmesan and black pepper, if desired.