Cacio E Pepe Chicken with Pecorino Cream Sauce

Cacio e pepe chicken is a 30-minute skillet dinner for nights when you're trying to get dinner done without a pile of pans. Four thin chicken cutlets get a browned edge, then sit in a peppery Pecorino and Parmesan cream sauce with parsley over the top at the table.

I slice the breasts horizontally first and pat them dry before they hit the pan, then leave the even cutlets alone for 4 to 5 minutes per side, since they'll cook through in the same window and build the browned bits I want under the sauce.

Use coarse black pepper from a grinder, not fine pepper from a shaker, and toast it in butter for 30 to 45 seconds until the smell comes up fast. Scrape the skillet with broth before the cream goes in. The pepper stays in clear dark flecks instead of turning the sauce gray.

Take the skillet down to low before adding the cheese, and grate it from blocks with a Microplane or fine box grater. If the pan seems too hot, I pull it off the heat, then whisk until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Serve it over al dente pasta with roasted asparagus alongside. A lemon-arugula salad works too.