This is a pasta dish I make often! I love blue cheese and Fourme d`Ambert always has a place on my cheese plates here in Paris. If there should be anything left this sauce is a great way to make use of the leftovers. Any type of blue cheese will work and you can modify the amount according to your taste. If you don`t have basil, parsley or chives will work perfectly. I also often add spinach to the sauce.
Ingredients
- 1 x shallots
- 20 g leeks
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 clove garlic
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp crème fraîche
- 20 g blue cheese
- 180 g dried pasta
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 handful fresh basil
- 1 handful walnuts
- ¼ x pear
Method
- Finely slice shallot, leek (make sure to wash away all the soil between the layers) and garlic. Heat up about 1 tbsp of olive oil in a pan. Sweat shallot and leek on medium/low heat for about 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic and let simmer for a couple more minutes.
- Season with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper. Stir in the crème fraîche and let simmer for about a minute. Cut the blue cheese into pieces and add to the pan. Stir as the cheese melts into the sauce (this is my favourite part). Season the sauce with salt and pepper.
- Boil the pasta according to the package. Save some of the salted pasta water.
- Add the pasta to the sauce alongside a generous knob of butter and a couple of tablespoons of pasta water (add enough pasta water to create a nice sauce). Stir together. Wash and roughly chop the fresh basil and stir into the pasta.
- Roast the walnuts in a hot pan. Let cool a bit before they are roughly chopped. Cut the pear into small dices.
- Add the pasta to plates and top with walnuts, pear and a little more olive oil, blue cheese and fresh basil if you feel like it. Bon appétit!
