‘Cacio e Pepe’ means cheese and pepper and is a hugely popular and well known Italian dish. It contains grated Pecorino Romano cheese and black pepper, and is often served with spaghetti. However or Brand Ambassador Chef Gary Guiney has recreated this with his own little stamp on it using TS Foods Savoury Stuffing!
Ingredients (to serve 2):
250g TS Foods Savoury Breadcrumb Stuffing
350g Risotto Rice
125ml white wine
85g butter
30g Parmesan, grated
30g Pecorino, grated
1 small onion, diced
800ml low salt veg/chicken stock
1 small bunch Fresh basil ( chopped)
Zest of one lemon
Method
Let’s start with the breadcrumbs….
Place your breadcrumbs on a flat baking tray, season with salt, cracked black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Pop into the oven at 220c/200c Fan for 20 mins till golden and then add your chopped basil and lemon zest. Mix well and pop back into the oven for 5 mins. Job done! (Make sure you keep a close eye on your crumbs at all stages of this – they can turn a little too toasty very quickly!)
Now for your risotto…
- Add your diced onion to a pan with a touch of olive oil and tsp of butter and cook over a medium heat until soft (5-6 mins).
- In a separate pan, toast your Carnaroli risotto rice on a low heat in a dry pan for 2-3 mins. This will not only release that nutty flavour, but will prevent the break down of the rice during the cooking process.
- Carefully pour the white wine into the pan, turn up the heat to medium and stir until the wine has evaporated.
- Now start adding your stock one ladle at a time, only adding the next one once the previous ladleful has soaked into the rice. This will take around 18 minutes and at this stage you can remove the risotto from the hear and add in your cheese, black pepper and rest of your butter
- To serve, sprinkle your zesty lemon breadcrumbs on top and enjoy the prefect risotto!!