These Roasted Potatoes Have a Crispy “Cheese Blanket” and I Can’t Get Enough

When my family traveled to Italy for our annual vacation a few years ago, I made it my personal mission to order cacio e pepe every single time it was on the menu. To this day, I still think about my favorite iteration and how it was so delightfully creamy, slightly sharp from the cheese, and perfectly peppery.

Though I haven’t yet mastered making the iconic pasta myself here at home, my love for it inspired these smashed potatoes. 

Creating a Crispy, Cheesy Crust

Many smashed potatoes get their crisp texture from roasting in a very hot oven. These, however, get their crunch from a blanket of cheese, which creates a shatteringly crispy crust. 

While cacio e pepe traditionally uses Pecorino Romano cheese, I opted for parmesan instead here because of how it melts. When roasted in the oven with the potatoes, Pecorino stays very pebbly and separates slightly, yielding a crunchy, hard crust that’s not as enjoyable to eat with the tender potatoes. Parmesan, on the other hand, melts into a thin, crisp, almost lacy sheet. 

That crisp-crunchy texture contrasts the creamy texture of the potatoes making for the most texturally satisfying bite. Finished with more parmesan over the top while still warm, these potatoes capture cacio e pepe’s creamy, sharp, nutty, and peppery notes, even without the signature Pecorino. 

Key Ingredients

• The potatoes: For this recipe, you’ll want to use small baby or new potatoes as you want to be able to smash the potato whole. Red or yellow both work here. Fingerlings also work here, but if they’re on the larger side, you may need to simmer them longer.
• The cheese: To yield the best parmesan crust, you’ll want to use grated parmesan that has a fine, pebbly texture. If you’re grating it yourself from a block, you can either use the zesting side of a box grater (the side with the spiky holes) or pulse it in a food processor with the blade until fine and pebbly. If using store-bought grated parmesan, look for something like this.

Can’t Get Enough Cacio e Pepe?