{cacio e pepe two ways}

Even though Chris is half Italian and we have traveled throughout Italy, I had never had cacio e pepe up until very recently.  It's one of those minimal ingredient dishes that seems ridiculously simple to prepare, but in actuality takes acute precision to get it just right.  We were lucky enough to have an expertly prepared cacio e pepe at Mercato di Vetro in Los Angles on our last trip back which happened to my first time having the dish.  It inspired us to try our hand at preparing it on our own and I think we nailed it following this recipe.

Now that I know about cacio e pepe and have experienced it, I keep seeing the dish popping up everywhere.  I recently came across a version with burrata, butternut squash and kale right here.  Now let's get one thing straight- when you start adding things to cacio e pepe then it's not really cacio e pepe anymore, but I'll overlook technicalities like that when we are talking about adding three ingredients that rest safely in my list of favorite ingredients.  I loved how this dish had the same base flavor and kick from the original cacio e pepe part of the recipe, but brought in a little seasonal heartiness from the squash and kale.  It would be fun to serve both dishes at your next dinner party and let your guests compare for themselves!

{we sprinkled some of the toasted butternut squash sides on top for an added crunch}