making vegan cacio e pepe

Source: NYT Cooking - The New York Times

When I first saw Alexa Weibel’s recipe for vegan cacio e pepe, I instantly bookmarked it. Admittedly I’ve never had the original dish, but I was excited to try the vegan version nonetheless. After reviewing the recipe, I set out to get the two ingredients I lacked - nutritional yeast and white miso paste. Despite being vegetarian and having tried my fair share of vegan recipes, I’ve never cooked with either before. I’m guessing the average home cook might not have either. 

The recipe was pretty straightforward and easy to follow. I appreciated that Weibel saved time by using cashew butter instead of soaking cashews prior. I usually shy away from recipes that require me to prep over an hour before. I did make some swaps based on what I had available (ground pepper instead of black peppercorns and veggie-based pasta instead of traditional spaghetti), but it didn’t seem to alter the integrity of the dish. 

I mixed together the ingredients for the sauce - nutritional yeast, cashew butter, and white miso paste - then added the reserved pasta water after the spaghetti had finished cooking to just under al dente. The cashew butter I had on hand was old, dry, and crumbly, so the sauce was originally lumpy and liquidy. I feared I had added too much water, but after much vigorous whisking, I finally had a creamy, rich, lump free sauce. 

I tossed the drained pasta with the sauce, adding pasta water to loosen it up and finish the cooking process. The sauce had emulsified and clung to the noodles well. It was visually appealing; from the naked eye, I don’t think you would be able to tell it was vegan. 

The dish had a strong peppery bite and the flavor of the cashew butter came through while adding to the creamy texture. It didn’t necessarily taste cheesy but it did have a sharpness to it. I personally thought it needed a bit of salt, but I was quite conservative when adding salt to the pasta water, as I didn’t want to overdo it, as Weibel mentioned the miso was salty on its own. 

Is it a dupe for cacio e pepe? Unfortunately, I’m not the best judge of that. But I did enjoy it and would recommend to anyone looking for a delicious, easy, weeknight dinner.