Cacio E Pepe - Baked
We’re getting close to it being baby time. We have most of the things we need at this point. There’s a few other things to get that we’re debating. Now our focus is also shifting to what’s easy to make for dinner when we haven’t slept, don’t want to cook, and surely don’t want to do a lot of dishes. Recently we tested out a no-boil pasta bake of our own that was great. We ate it twice. I’m working on adding it to the site. This was all the inspiration we needed to try it with something else. Also could chicken cook with no issues at the same time as the pasta? Do we want more than just alfredo sauce.
One of our go to Italian places does a dish called Cacio E Pepe. It’s a very peppery (cracked black pepper), and cheesy dish. Wanting more flavor and choice than just alfredo we tried our own, one pan, no boil, version of Cacio E Pepe and were pleasantly surprised. The flavor is great. It’s rich, full of fresh black pepper, and thickens well with all of the parmesan cheese that is added. Since we start out with less sauce in the jar that’s added we added more heavy cream to this recipe than the other bake. We also reduced the chicken broth so they were a 1:1 ratio. This was perfect! Enough liquid to boil the pasta to al dente, but not too little that there was no “sauce” left. When it came out of the oven after the first bake I was a bit nervous. There was still a decent amount of liquid in the pan. Once the parmesan was added and it baked for another quick round it was perfect. A rich, cheesy, peppery cream sauce with perfectly al dente pasta, and moist chunks of chicken. This one will be making the rounds after “O” comes. I’m sure we’ll be making it at least once more before she shows up.
Simple. One pan, no water to boil, and very little mess. What more could you ask for in a dish that comes together before the oven can even pre-heat. Also don’t forget to pre-heat the oven. I did. Be safe out there.
Ingredients
1 - 1 lb. box of fettuccine pasta
1 - 15oz jar Alfredo sauce
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
4 Tablespoons of butter (1/2 stick)
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast cubed
2 Tablespoons of fresh ground pepper
1 1/2 cup shredded parmesan
pinch of Salt
Instructions
Pre-heat the oven to 425
Cube the chicken, and sprinkle with fresh cracked pepper (not the 2T listed in the recipe), and salt
Grab a 9x13 pan and put the pasta into it
Add in the heavy cream, chicken broth, alfredo sauce, and mix. Make sure to move the pasta a bit as it may stick to itself
Add in the chicken
Cut the butter into 4 pieces and add to the pan as well
Cover the dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes
Uncover and stir
Add in the 2 Tablespoons of pepper and 1 1/2 cups of parmesan cheese and stir
Return, uncovered, to the oven for an additional 10 minutes
Stir, plate, and enjoy
