Pomodoro + Cacio e Pepe

A union worth exploring

If you wondered whether or not I was/am still on my tomato kick, you wondered correctly.

Tomato Hill I intend to die on, if you will.

For the last three weeks I have had the idea of marrying pasta pomodoro with cacio e pepe.“Esque” trailing both words being the key here, as I am careful not to offend purists on either side. I knew I wanted to highlight my favorite summer produce while mindful of not overshadowing the tomatoes themselves while needing…

Cheese.

It’s the acid and fat, you know?

My first-go involved a quick sauté of the tomatoes with a palmful of thinly sliced garlic and a generous glug of olive oil, finished with pasta water and a blend of ricotta and parmesan, both of which I already had on hand. It was fine. I didn’t love the grainy texture of the ricotta and I wish I hadn’t cooked the tomatoes, even if it was just for a minute.

There is a small chance that part of my decision making was influenced by my lack of sleep the night before. There was live music, tequila, and a bedtime that was significantly later than what my body is accustomed to, even later than what I would consider to be a late night. It doesn’t take much, folks. And by much I mean basically anything later than 10 pm might as well be Team No Sleep. So when I decided that this was the meal that was going to cure what ailed me-