(Pasta with Gorgonzola & Walnuts)
This is such a simple recipe, I learned it before the quarantine started when friends could still stop by and whip up an informal lunch together. My friends Davide and Giulia came by and wanted to prepare lunch for us. We stopped by the little local market before heading home, Giulia perused the pasta isle carefully, looking for the perfect pasta.
She wanted to make Pasta with Gorgonzola but said it should be “the short squaty” pasta. Finally her fingers landed on a bag of large rigatoni. Hmmmm, I have not cooked with that one before. I asked her why it had to be that kind of pasta and she said “Oh, it’s for Gorgonzola sauce so it should be wide and short”.
This was a new concept for me….”the pasta size and shape matters?” I asked incredulously. “Well, yes…she replied, these are better for a rich cream sauce”. So apparently there is a science to this: long skinny pasta like spaghetti is good for Seafood, think Spaghetti or linguini with mussels or clams. “Ribbon” pasta like fettuccine or tagliatelle is good for rich meaty sauces like a Ragu. “Twists” such as Trophie or Fusilli are good with smooth sauces that will cling to the twists, think Pesto. Tubes like Penne or Rigatoni are good for meaty sauces or cheese sauces and baking like Baked Penne Pasta or today’s Gorgonzola sauce. Filled pasta like ravioli or tortellini should have a light simple sauce so the filling can shine. There you have it. Consider yourself educated. If you have doubts, just type “Matching pasta to sauce” into your search engine and see what plethora of articles come up. But it really rang true when I thought of the different pasta dishes I have enjoyed, so each dish was carefully selected to match the pasta shape.
After this mind-blowing incident in the pasta isle we continued to the cheese counter where Giulia selected a nice Gorgonzola. Lastly we stepped over to the fresh vegetables and she selected a radicchio. This is a small head of really red lettuce that looks like red cabbage but not as purple. It is VERY bitter in flavor but the Italians love a little bitterness in their life. The new olives they enjoy are bitter, the broccoletti is bitter, even Campari is bitter. I guess we should introduce more bitterness in our life, or at least on our tongue.
I adapted her recipe to exclude the radicchio and replace it with walnuts, but walnuts are a legitimate ingredient in this sauce as well. If you want to try the radicchio version, give it a try! You may decide you like it!
Giulia and I headed home to whip up our impromptu lunch and in the time it took to boil the pasta we were sitting and dining al fresco, Italian style.
I have included the recipe that feeds four people, but I usually make it for myself, for a simple lunch or dinner for one. I use just a little cream, a section of Gorgonzola (a couple of ounces) and a handful of walnuts. In fact, you can omit the cream and use a little milk instead, or even just the starchy water, it’s a lighter sauce but still so yummy!
Pasta Gorgonzola e Noci
(Pasta with Gorgonzola & Walnuts)
Ingredients:
- 12 ounces Rigatoni Pasta
- 8 ounces Gorgonzola
- 1/2 cup cream
- 1/4 cup slightly chopped walnuts
- salt to taste
- parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top
Instructions:
- Bring a pan of water to a boil and add 1 teaspoon salt. This is to cook the pasta. Italians taste the water to verify the salt content is right. It should taste like salty seawater.
- Pour the cream into a saucepan, add the cubed up gorgonzola, bring to a slight bubble, add a handful of walnuts and cook low until the cheese melts.
- When the pasta is cooked “al dente”, spoon the pasta into the cheese mixture. This is how the Italians cook pasta, they don’t dump the pasta into a colander to drain, they spoon the pasta into the sauce allowing some of the salty starchy water to be incorporated into the sauce. Careful not to make it too runny! If it does become too runny you can add a little cornstarch.
