Name: Pasta ai Quattro Formaggi
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 400 g penne or rigatoni; 150 ml double cream; 80 g Gorgonzola, crumbled; 80 g Fontina, grated; 80 g taleggio, rind removed, diced; 40 g grated Parmesan; ½ tsp black pepper; 30 g walnuts, chopped

The Case for Pasta ai Quattro Formaggi

Why does a cheese sauce turn stringy or grainy? Because it was heated too hard. Pasta ai quattro formaggi is a sauce of four cheeses melted into a little cream, and it stays smooth only on a low heat.

Use four cheeses that melt differently: a soft one such as Gorgonzola for flavour, a semi hard one like Fontina for stretch, mozzarella or taleggio for body, and Parmesan for salt. Grate or crumble them small, so they melt quickly. Keep the sauce below a simmer, stirring, and take it off the heat once the cheeses have melted. Pasta water loosens it without making it thin.

Boil the pasta until just tender, drain, keeping a cup of the water, and toss it in the sauce. Add a few tablespoons of water if it looks tight. Finish with black pepper and, if you like, a few chopped walnuts to cut the richness. Serve at once, because the sauce thickens as it cools.

What Goes With It

Green salad
Dry white wine
Roasted pears

How to Make Pasta ai Quattro Formaggi

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Boil the pasta in salted water until just tender. Keep 200 ml of the water, then drain.
Warm the cream in a wide pan over low heat. Add the Gorgonzola, Fontina and taleggio a handful at a time, stirring, until melted.
Stir in the Parmesan and pepper off the heat.
Toss in the pasta, adding the cooking water until the sauce is glossy. Scatter with the walnuts.

A Few Notes

Melt the cheeses over a low heat.

Keep some pasta water to loosen the sauce.

Serve at once, as the sauce tightens.

Swaps and Variations

In a sauce, full-fat crème fraîche can usually take the place of the double cream; single cream is thinner and more likely to split if it boils, so keep it below a simmer.

Keeping What's Left

Best fresh.