This tagliatelle with healthy Gorgonzola sauce is one of my evergreens. And not just because the sauce is made with leek and baby spinach. In fact it is the third recipe I ever published on my Dutch blog gerechtenweb back in 2007: tagliatelle met gezonde Gorgonzola saus. But I never found the time to publish the English recipe. Up to now. Enjoy it and read much more below the recipe!
Tagliatelle with healthy Gorgonzola sauce
Ingredients
- 250 gram tagliatelle fresh
- 1 leek
- 80 gram baby spinach
- 100 gram walnuts
- 200 gram Gorgonzola
- 250 ml cream
- pepper
- salt
- nutmeg
Instructions
- Remove the roots and green leaves from the leek. Halve the trunk lengthwise, then cut both halves into half rings.
- Cut the baby spinach into small pieces.
- Finely chop two-thirds of the walnuts. Keep some aside for finishing.
- Cut the Gorgonzola into coarse pieces.
- Fry the leek rings with some oil in a deep pan.
- After a few minutes, add the Gorgonzola and cream.
- Mix everything well and let it reduce slightly. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
- A few minutes before serving, add the walnuts and spinach.
- Meanwhile, cook the tagliatelle as indicated on the package. Fresh tagliatelle should only cook for a minute or two. If you use dried tagliatelle, it is recommended start cooking it before you make the sauce.
- Serve the tagliatelle on plates with the sauce. Finish with some walnuts.
Nutrition
About tagliatelle with healthy Gorgonzola sauce
This tagliatelle with healthy Gorgonzola sauce is super easy to make. And of course super tasty. To prepare, all you need to do is chop leeks, chop walnuts and cut the Gorgonzola into cubes. In the recipe I have indicated 15 minutes for this, but you have to work really slowly for that. Maybe you can take a break to think about your choice of wine to go with this recipe.
And you don't need 15 minutes for the actual preparation either. Briefly fry the leek in the pan with some butter or oil. Then add the cheese and cream and let it reduce briefly. This until all the cheese has melted. In the meantime you can season with salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste. As an alternative to pepper, I also regularly use allspice. I love it along with leek and nutmeg.
Finally, add the walnuts and spinach. And your tasty vegetarian sauce is ready.
Fresh or dried tagliatelle?
Now let us talk about the tagliatelle. I used to always buy dried tagliatelle. But these days I prefer to buy fresh ones. Because the tagliatelle is fresh, it also takes less time to cook. Fresh tagliatelle is usually ready in a minute or two. With dried you have to count on 10 minutes. That saves time and energy, not unimportant nowadays.
Your choice of using dried or fresh tagliatelle also impact the order in which you prepare the recipe. If you use dried tagliatelle, it is best to start with that because of the longer cooking time. With fresh tagliatelle, as used in the recipe, it is better to start with the sauce. And just before adding the walnuts and spinach to the sauce, you can cook the tagliatelle. Then everything is ready at the same time.
About Gorgonzola
Gorgonzola is a blue veined cheese from the North of Italy, in the region in Milan. There is indeed a small town named Gorgonzola north-east of Milan. Of course this city claims to be the origin of the famous blue veined cheese. But other municipalities in the region dispute that.
There are two types of Gorgonzola. The soft variant is slightly spicy and has a milder taste. The spicier variant is more thicker and crumbly. And has more blue veins.
Read much more about Gorgonzola on the dedicated page of the Consortium for the protection of the Gorgonzola cheese.
I love the taste, and like to integrate it into many surprising recipes. Just like other types of blue cheese.
More surprising.vegetarian
I am not following a special diet. But meanwhile vegetarian dishes have found a fixed place in my menu. Before I thought a meal wasn't complete without meat. Now I have much more variation with or without meat. These are my favorite vegetarian creations:
- Banana peel curry.
- vegetarian Orzo soup.
- yellow-green tortellini lasagna.
- vegetarian chickpea curry.
- eggplant con chili.
- African peanut stew.
- gnocchi with cranberry sauce.
- cappelletti con passata.
- vegetarian gnocchi with yellow bell pepper.
If you speak Dutch, you can find the Dutch version of this recipe on gerechtenweb.blog.
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