Cacio e pépe is an Italian phrase that simply means “cheese and pepper”. This is traditionally a served over pasta for a quick and comforting meal that’s even easier to make than carbonara or puttanesca. For a change of pace this cacio e pepe baby potatoes recipe replaces the pasta with potatoes for comfort food at its finest.

To begin making this recipe you’ll need to boil potatoes in salted water. It’s best to go a bit heavy handed on the salt here as it seeps into the tubers as they cook, giving them a lighter texture and a more flavorful interior. For this recipe baby potatoes are ideal since they’re not only cute, but they cook quickly and don’t need to be chopped up. Yukon Gold baby potatoes are perfect for this dish, but the mixed color fingerling potatoes work nicely, too.

Once your potatoes are fork tender drain them and return them to the pan, this time with no heat. Toss them with olive oil and some grated Pecorino Romano cheese. If your prefer Parmesan or even Manchego cheese then by all means use those instead. Just please don’t use the shakey cheese in the can for this one. You want a cheese that can melt just enough to coat the potatoes without being stringy. In my experience the pre-grated kind just doesn’t perform as well or have as much flavor. Since there aren’t a lot of other flavors in this dish a good cheese paramount.

The other star of the show is pepper and for this dish freshly cracked pepper is best. It gives the potatoes a slightly spicy kick that offsets the cheese beautifully. You can also add more salt at this stage if you like.

For a final touch sprinkle just a little bit more cheese on top and you’ve got the perfect side dish to just about any meal you can think of. I’ve even made these for breakfast! Next time you need a special potato dish that isn’t French fries or mashed potatoes, look no further than cacio e pepe baby potatoes.