On our latest trip to Umbria we had, of course, a lot of pasta. And it was all fabulous. Because we were in the mid to northern part of Italy we did not have a much pasta with red sauce, mostly noodles with subtle flavors—so delicious!

So we were inspired to try to do our take on the home made pasta with cheese and butter. The classic Cacio and Pepe pasta. We thought it was good (when we made it here in the states) but a little plain. So we added some items like cooked pancetta, crimini and shiitake mushrooms and capers. Also we split the difference half pecorino cheese and half parmesan. Just a bit more flavor and visual pizazz.