Invoking a Homey Fall Dish in August: Gorgonzola-Gruyere-Parmesan Cheese Sauce

I recently discovered the lemon-pepper pappardelle noodles from Trader Joe's. The name pappardelle comes from the Italian word to "pappare," meaning "to gobble up," which I have a hard time refraining from doing, but I would like to still be able to fit into my clothes.

via smilingeggplant.blogspot.com

While Mike is not a fan of lemon, I love the sour, sweet, bitter, citrus-y, zesty flavor. I'm not calling for big bold, lemon-ness, just a subtle hint of that acidity in the right dish is awesome to me, and that is where Trader Joe's got it right with these noodles.

With flat, broad noodles, I like a nice cream sauce. I'm not a big fan of red sauces in general, but it could be that the ones I've bought and the ones I've made are just subpar. I think that complacency toward red sauce has allowed me to develop a love for pesto and, especially, cream sauces. I tend not to indulge in cheese and milk within my routine habits, but I love a good cream sauce, especially with the sweetness of spring peas, and the mellowness of mushrooms in the fall.

But it's summer now, and a good bechamel is looked upon with disdain from bikini-wearing, food-phobics. I, on the other hand, welcome a savory dish, as long as I eat a little less and up the vegetable count at the same time. And the result is a bacon and anchovy laden sauce with so much cheese-flavor packed into the small portion that it would make a Swiss swear off fondue. I think the amount I made was sufficient for 2 people, but I greedily ate the whole thing. In retrospect, it was a little much, but it was oh so good.

Gorgonzola-Gruyere-Parmesan Cheese Sauce
Yields 2 servings


Ingredients:
2 slices of bacon, diced
2 anchovy fillets, minced (the kind packed in olive oil, such as Cento brand)
1 shallot, diced
2 cloves garlic
1 oz gruyere cheese, grated
1 oz parmesan cheese, grated
1 oz gorgonzola, crumbled
1/2 C milk, 2% or whole

Method:
Place all of the bacon in a saucepan over medium heat and cook until crisp and the fat has been rendered. Remove and reserve.

Lower the heat to medium-low and in the sauce pan add the diced anchovy, garlic and shallot and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the grated and crumbled cheeses and stir to combine. Add the milk and simmer until the sauce browns slightly.

You can cook it for less time if you'd like a blonde sauce, or longer if you'd like a nuttier, deeper brown sauce.

The salt is very salty, which I liked in combination with the sweeter noodles. I added some cherry tomato confit that I made, as well as some steamed haricots verts for color and for a nice, vegetal crunch.

I see this great with green peas, pancetta, even spinach or kale, and maybe some added lemon juice for that sweet, acidity, when tomatoes sadly disappear from farmers markets.

What's Been Cooking this Week?

Since I went a bit on cooking overload, there were lots of leftovers to enjoy at the beginning of this week. But now I'm once again trying to get through the tons of food in my fridge, and I might be on the winning side this week.

Zucchini fritters frying in the cast iron, soy-balsamic glazed chicken braising in the back (recipe for the fritters coming soon, as well as an explanation on braising and why it is one of my favorite ways to cook).

Other half of the zucchini was cut into half moons,  tossed with olive oil, salt, black pepper and a pinch of red chili flakes. These were roasted in my toaster over (that's right, a toaster over, and what!) at 450 degrees until they were tender and slightly charred (that leant a slightly smoky taste that feels summery; Mike thought they tasted as though they were grilled -- he loved them btw).

Here was dinner.

Clockwise from the top left: Soy-balsamic glazed chicken, left over pan-fried albacore, white rice, roasted zucchini

At the Top Left: More white rice, zucchini fritters

At the Top Right: Kool-aid (ooooooh yeaaahhh)

Made Mike a pepperoni pizza (I have an experiment going to find the perfect ratio of white to whole wheat flour that he really enjoys). For myself, I made a gorgonzola-gruyere-Parmesan cheese sauce with anchovy and bacon, mixed into lemon-pepper pappardelle (from Trader Joe's), with haricot verts for color and orange cherry tomato confit* for sweetnes and acidity, perfect for countering the saltiness and umami* goodness of the cheese sauce.

*Confit is used to describe foods that have been immersed in what I believed was always fat/oil, but apparently it's anything that will preserve it and add flavor.  The French are known for their duck and goose confits, and there are also fruit confits, with sugar used as the preservation substance.

*Umami is another name for savory, named by the Japanese scientists that discovered this flavor profile. It's a flavor commonly used to describe meat, mushrooms, and cheese.

And it appears Safeway has begun catering to a new class of shoppers. Anyone want to split 1/100th of a pound of Truffles*?

*Truffles are a fungus, prized by Chefs and home cooks alike, and referred to as the "diamond of the kitchen." While truffles are definitely out of most people's budget, truffle oil maybe be a more cost-friendly substitute. Though, keep in mind, truffle oil is not actually made from real truffles, but instead a synthetic substance.