Cacio e pepe noodles and long beans
Asian Fusion Monstrosity
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I finally made it to Bonnie’s, the buzzy Cantonese restaurant started by Win Son alum Calvin Eng. It’s only blocks away from my apartment, but it’s been such a thing since the moment it opened I never had the energy for it. I thought the restaurant was super solid: would go again, would probably not wait in line for 45 minutes to do so. My favorite dish was the dao gok — long beans with “fermented bean curd garlic butter,” followed by the cacio e pepe mein, but my favorite favorite dish was when I mixed the two together in my bowl and ate bites of cheesy noodle with fried green bean, the umami hitting me from all directions. Thus, today’s recipe was born.
I’ve made Sichuan dry fried green beans many times and traditionally they’re deep-fried to get blistered and crispy, then tossed with savory things like pork and sui mi ya cai, spicy-numbing Sichuan peppercorns, and spicy-spicy chili peppers. I completely stand behind deep-frying at home, but since I was already going to be finishing the dish with a stick of butter, I decided to roast the green beans to get the signature wrinkly texture without all the oil. It worked so well that honestly I may use the method for making Sichuan green beans in the future.
The fermented bean curd garlic butter was also pretty great. I think you can go ahead and use all of it to make the noodles creamy and rich, but you can also use just about ¾ if you want and spread the rest on bread or a toasted everything bagel the next morning. Similarly, the peppercorn mix would be good on so many things — this recipe makes more than you need for the dish. I have to hat tip to The Woks of Life for that peppercorn mix and the idea of numbing cacio e pepe generally.
Leftovers aren’t the best for this dish, so if you’re cooking for two, here’s what I would do: Roast all the green beans and make the full amounts of the compound butter and pepper mix (steps 1-4). Cook only half the noodles, and then mix them with half the green beans, half the compound butter, etc. The next time you make it, it’ll be as quick as it takes to get the noodles cooked.
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
1.5 lbs long beans or green beans, washed and with the ends chopped off
1 tablespoon neutral oil (like peanut or sunflower oil)
½ teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter (room temperature makes it a little easier)
4 cubes (25 grams) fermented bean curd
2 big cloves peeled garlic, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons black peppercorn
1 tablespoon white peppercorn (or an additional teaspoon black peppercorn)
1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorn
10 oz dried noodles — Chinese (white noodles, like those used for dan dan) or Italian (spaghetti or bucatini)*
2 tablespoons neutral oil (like peanut or sunflower oil)
2 tablespoons sui mi ya cai or 1 small shallot, diced
1 cup (80 grams) grated parmesan, pecorino, or grana padano
*Fresh noodles are trickier to work with — you’ll want to have the green beans completely ready, cook the noodles super briefly in boiling water, then drain them (reserving some pasta water for the sauce), and finish them with the green beans.
Method
Preheat the oven to 425°F.
Toss the trimmed green beans with 1 tablespoon (or a small glug) of neutral oil and ½ teaspoon of salt. Spread them out on a baking sheet. Roast in the oven for 35-40 minutes, until the green beans are wrinkled and have some darker spots.
Meanwhile, make the compound butter: Add the butter, fermented bean curd, and garlic to a food processor. Pulse to combine, scraping down the sides, until the mixture is uniform. Taste and add more garlic or fermented bean curd if you want. Set aside the butter.
Make the pepper mix: Add the black peppercorns, white peppercorns, and Sichuan peppercorns to a spice grinder or mortar and pestle, and break up into a coarse grind (it’s okay if some of the pieces are still mostly whole). Set aside.
Begin cooking the noodles: Heat a pot of salted water until boiling and cook the noodles until just shy of al dente — 1 minute less than the lowest recommended cooking time.
While the noodles are cooking, heat a wok or sauté pan over medium heat and add the 2 tablespoons neutral oil. Add about 3-4 teaspoons of the pepper mix (depending on how spicy you like things) and the sui mi ya cai or chopped shallot. Fry for about a minute, until fragrant, then add all the beans and mix together well.
Add a ladleful of pasta water, the compound butter, and most of the grated cheese (leaving aside some for topping the servings). Mix until the cheese and butter are melted.
Using tongs or a spider, transfer the pasta directly to the wok. Continue cooking until the pasta is just cooked. You can add more pasta water if there’s not enough liquid in the pan.
Serve immediately, with additional cheese and pepper mix to top individual servings.