Cacio E Pepe Pasta Sauce with Angel Hair Pasta and Chicken

 Cacio E Pepe Pasta Sauce with Angel Hair Pasta and Chicken

    So, I was at the store recently and saw a product by Lotito Presto called "Cacio E Pepe Pasta Sauce Starter" (in English, it's a pasta sauce with sun dried tomatoes, pecorino cheese & black pepper.  On the lid, it says that it is a "traditional Roman recipe".   I decided to give it a shot, because there is no shame in using a sauce starter. Plus, I thought if I liked it, I could try and recreate it.  It's very easy, cook your noodles (I picked angel hair); put the dry sauce mix in a bowl; when your noodles are done, reserve one cup of the water you cooked the noodles in and drain your noodles.  Add the cup of water to the mix and stir.  Add the sauce to your noodles, stir and you are ready to eat.  It was just me tonight, so I just put my noodles back into the pan and added the sauce.  I also, diced up some chicken breast and cooked that with a little bit of garlic.  I stirred in the chicken after mixing the sauce and noodles.  I also added some red chili pepper flakes to the top of my bowl.  

    Back to the use of a starter sauce mix.  We've all seen sauce starter or meal starter kits at the store and like I said earlier, there is no shame in using a starter.  They're great to have on hand if you are pressed for time.  Plus, you are still cooking a meal, just with some of the ingredients already mixed together.  

    So, did I like the finished pasta dish?  Yes! Would I buy this product again? Yes.  Will I try to recreate it on my own? Also, yes, especially because I don't remember which store I found it at. The container of dry sauce starter mix is 6oz, so I'd use about that much cheese and there wasn't a lot of sun dried tomato, so I could add more or less to my taste. Will I try it with parmesan cheese? Probably.  Will it be just as good? I'm sure it will be.