February 2022

Our pasta cacio e uova, or pasta with cheese and eggs, comes together quickly. We gently heated crushed garlic cloves in lard while the water for the pasta came to a boil. And while the fat became infused with the garlic's flavor, we stirred together Pecorino Romano, Parmesan, eggs, salt, pepper, and parsley. We drained the pasta and tossed it with the oil, which provided a subtly sweet, nutty toasted garlic flavor, as well as 1 tablespoon of the pasta cooking water and the egg-and-cheese mixture.

Barley makes a nutty, toothsome risotto-like dish when cooked with the right amount of liquid. For flavor and to make the grain into a satisfying meal, we use sautéed cremini mushrooms as a base, wilt in baby kale (or spinach or arugula) at the end, then top it all off with a pungent cheese. To make prep go a little quicker, look for sliced cremini mushrooms in the market.

Sturdy greens such as kale can be leathery and tough if not cooked long enough. But a gentle simmer gives kale time to become tender and sweet, and to meld with other ingredients. That’s why it tastes so good when we wilt an entire pound in a Portuguese-style soupy rice dish with chopped tomatoes.

We used curly kale for roasting because it retained some volume and featheriness, even when cooked. After tearing the leaves into large pieces and rinsing them, we spun the leaves in a salad spinner to remove most of the excess moisture that would otherwise need to be cooked off in the oven. Massaging oil and salt into the kale directly on the baking sheet evenly seasoned all the leaves and kick-started the wilting process before cooking. Roasting the kale in a hot oven cooked it relatively quickly and encouraged browning.

This one-pot pasta comes together in minutes, and requires zero prep and minimal cleanup. It builds on the classic combination of pasta, butter and cheese with a spoonful of miso paste for complexity. But you could experiment with using any other condiments or spices you have on hand, such as red pesto, curry paste or ground turmeric in place of the miso. To achieve a silky smooth pasta, you’ll need to put your cacio e pepe skills to work: Vigorously toss the pasta, grated cheese and pasta water together to achieve a properly emulsified sauce.