A Creamy Cheese, A Creamy Sauce

Gorgonzola is a richly flavoured, creamy blue cheese. Just melted, it makes a creamy sauce of its own, especially with such chunky dishes as gnocchi. With pasta, I reckon it needs a few props, to cut down the fattiness of the dish.

The best pasta for the creaminess of this sauce is either a flat spaghetti called linguine, like that you make yourself, or maccheroni alla chitarra from the region of Abruzzo. The flat-surfaced pasta holds much more of the sauce than the cylindrical variety. This recipe contains a small amount of pasta relative to the sauce. It’s up to you whether it’s pasta with gorgonzola or gorgonzola with pasta (true gorgonzola lovers will prefer more cheese, but as I say, please yourself).

1 small leek, chopped roughly

zest of 1 lime, chopped very finely

1 chilli, chopped finely – This is optional, but only for those with kids whose palates have not yet been primed.

ΒΌ cup olive oil

160 g finest spaghetti (about 40 g per person)

100 g gorgonzola, rind removed, and cut into smallish cubes – It’s too creamy for cubes, but you know what I mean.

black pepper (30 seconds turning on the mill)

12 basil leaves

juice of 1 lime

1

Cook the leeks, lime zest and chilli in the olive oil, until the leek has softened, and has become quite shiny. Set aside.

2

Cook the pasta as per the instructions on the packet, and drain.

3

While the pasta is draining, re-heat the leek mix. This takes but 20 seconds. Add the gorgonzola and stir about, on a very low heat, until the gorgonzola has melted and attached itself to the leeks. Turn the pepper mill over the lot. Don’t add salt.

4

Mix in the basil leaves and lime juice. Toss the pasta through the lot and serve simply. If you need Parmigiano Reggiano on this dish, you’re a cheese freak.

WINE: The richness of this dish demands something to cut through it, or provide some balance. A good beer, served cold, is ideal, or a white wine with a good acid structure: perhaps an Eden Valley or Clare rhine riesling.