Rigatoni Cacio e Pepe With So Much Squash

Author Notes

Here’s a weeknight dinner formula that’s never failed me: rigatoni cacio e pepe plus whatever vegetable is in season. In the spring, this means asparagus or ramps. Summer, it’s tomatoes, tomatoes, and more tomatoes. And, fall through winter, it’s hard-as-heck squash.

But first, we should cover a few cacio e pepe basics. Its translation—literally, cheese and pepper—tells you most of what you need to know about this simple Roman sauce. The creaminess comes not from cream (don’t you dare!), but from cheese emulsifying with starchy, salty pasta water.

Often, said cheese is Pecorino Romano. But lots of cooks like to add Parmesan, too—think of it like bonus umami—and I’m one of them. The catch with both is: They’re reluctant melters compared to younger, softer varieties like mozzarella and chevre. This means you’ll need to encourage melting however you can—notably, by grating the cheese as finely as possible (a Microplane works wonders here), adding butter to lead the way (“follow me, I’ll show you!” it cries out), and cutting the heat before adding the cheese (to prevent clumping).

If you’re thinking that 2 teaspoons of freshly ground black pepper sounds like a lot—well, good, because it is. And that’s the whole point. Buzz black peppercorns in a coffee grinder, mash them up in a mortar, or churn, churn, churn with a pepper mill—whatever your prefered method is. Just don’t swap in pre-ground black pepper; its flavor is nonexistent in comparison (like water next to coffee), and that zingy-tingly heat is paramount. To amplify its pepperiness even more, we’ll let it blossom in some sizzling butter.

Now, about that squash. Yes, I call for three times as much delicata as pasta, by weight, and no, that’s not a typo. While roasting is my default during the colder months, in this case, I make a convenient exception. We’re already boiling pasta in salty water, so why not add in the squash? You may recognize this two-for-one method from Nancy Harmon Jenkins’ Genius pesto pasta. As Kristen Miglore writes, “This shortcut is both faster than cooking the vegetables separately and makes the pasta taste better, too, as the noodles absorb some of the flavor from the vegetables as they cook.”

Of course, you could play around with the squash type (say, butternut, kabocha, or red kuri) and pasta shape (like penne, radiatori, or fusilli). You’ll just need to adjust the cooking times accordingly, so they’re done cooking at the same time. —Emma Laperruque