Cacio e Pepe Dinner Kit
with Semolina Artisanal Rigatoni Pasta and Heritage Pancetta by Smoking Goose
4 servings plus cheese, butter, and black pepper to spare!

Cacio e pepe with pancetta is an easy and quick weekday meal. All in, the dish takes less than a half hour to produce — everything can be prepared while the pasta is boiling. But it takes years to perfect and every time you make it, the dish will taste slightly different, that is until you become a master!

Cruz Goler was the head chef at Lupa restaurant in New York City for more than six years, yet still claims he cannot make the restaurant’s signature cacio e pepe pasta perfectly — it’s too simple, there are only four ingredients, the margin of error is too small. Striving for perfection is his noble purpose!

The art in making cacio e pepe comes in being able to emulsify the butter and cheese in the pasta water just right to make a sauce that is creamy yet light. As the pasta cooks it releases starch into the cooking water, which is the base of the sauce — getting the starch amount perfect, and picking the exact increments of the other ingredients is an art.

This kit includes a recipe card and these ingredients:

• Rigatoni, one 1 lb box by Semolina Artisanal Pasta
  Traditional, slow-dried, full-flavored organic durum semolina pasta made in California

• Black Peppercorns, one 1.8 oz grinder-top jar by Burlap & Barrel
  These fabulous black peppercorns are grown in Ea Sar, Vietnam using organic practices and harvested only when the peppercorns are ripe. The peppercorn vines are a companion crop to the Robusta coffee plants, providing shade for the coffee. This new harvest has the same fruity, herbaceous, and some might say "robust" flavor that first captivated us!

• Parmigiano Reggiano, one 8-10 oz piece
  The King of Italian cheese — aged 24 months to sweet and nutty perfection. Raw milk, produced in Italy. Wrap remainder tightly, store in the fridge for up to 90 days.

• Heritage Pancetta, one 8 oz piece by Smoking Goose Meatery
  Pancetta is an Italian version of bacon made by dry curing pork belly with salt, pepper, and spices. A myriad of traditional dishes call for rendering chunks or slices of pancetta as the base for a sauce or a crispy garnish but a version as fine as Chris Eley's of Smoking Goose can be enjoyed in many more ways.

• Ploughgate Unsalted Butter, .5 lb, by Ploughgate Creamery in Vermont

  Ploughgate Creamery cultured butter is made from fresh Vermont cream sourced from the Monument Dairy in Weybridge, Vermont. The cream is cultured for 24 hours before being churned, giving the butter a distinct tangy and nutty flavor. The butter is then kneaded by hand to expel more moisture. The sweetness of the cream shines through, creating an elegant and balanced butter!