Cacio e Pepe Popcorn

This popcorn is truly decadent. Great for a house party or a date night in. This recipe is a blend of two of my favourite ways to eat popcorn: popped in duck fat, and sprinkled with nutritional yeast. This combination, sprinkled liberally with salt and pepper, reminds me so much of traditional Italian cacio e pepe, which is just pasta with pepper and Parmesan. Except instead of parm, I reached for my nutritional yeast which has a delightful cheesy flavour, and allows you to avoid dairy if that’s important to you. If you want, go straight for the real stuff. I’ve tried it and it’s phenomenal.

This recipe is for homemade popcorn, which is by far the best way to do it. Not only is it healthier but you should find that it has a nicer, fresher flavour too.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp duck fat

1/3 cup popping corn kernels

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 - 1 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp garlic powder

3 tbsp nutritional yeast

Put the duck fat in the bottom of a pot and then turn the burner on medium heat. The duck fat should coat the bottom of the pan and be sufficiently hot before you add the corn kernels. Be careful! Duck fat smokes quickly, so keep an eye on it.

Once your popcorn is in the pan, and while you’re keeping one eye on it, mix the remaining ingredients in a small bowl. When the popcorn is done popping (let it pop until you hear nothing for 3-4 seconds) pour it into a bowl with all of that beautiful duck fat, and then toss with the spice/yeast mixture.

That’s it! I hope you enjoy this as much as I do. As I said, you can skip the nutritional yeast if you’re not feeling adventurous and go right for the real Parmesan, but I promise you won’t miss the cheese if you give nutritional yeast a try.

Enjoy!