Gorgonzola Cremificato

Gorgonzola Cremifacto (or Dolce) is enriched with heavy cream and then aged for about 3 months. It's soft and rich, pungent and sweet. At room temperature it's runny enough to puddle, so when the Bedford Cheese Shop has it in stock they display it in a glass dish on the counter, where it oozes invitingly and suggestively to all visitors. We gave into temptation and bought about 6 ounces, thinking we'd make a sauce for pasta with it.

Then we did some research, reading five or six recipes for pasta with gorgonzola. We settled on a refined version of this recipe for Fettuccine Carbonara with Gorgonzola (or, as we renamed it, Gorgonzola Death Pasta) at Epicurious.

1/8 cup of olive oil

2 garlic cloves, crushed

About 4-6 oz Gorgonzola Cremificato, rind removed

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon dried red chilli flakes

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

I large egg, beaten

3 slices cooked bacon, broken into smallish pieces

1/2 cup grated parmesan

1/8 cup chopped parsley, or more if you like it

A bit of chopped sage

1. Start the pasta cooking and heat up the oil (low-medium heat) in a big frying pan.

2. When there's about 9 minutes to go, throw the garlic into the oil and lightly saute for two mins, tops.

3. Add the cheese, cream, milk, salt, pepper and chilli flakes.

4. Simmer until it thickens a bit (about 5 - 7 minutes), stirring constantly

5. Drain the pasta (but keep a bit of the water if you think the sauce is too thick), add it to the mix and toss well

6. Remove pan from heat, add the egg and toss well

7. If you think the sauce looks too thick, you can add a bit of pasta water at this stage

8. Add bacon, herbs, half the parmesan and toss well

9. Sprinkle remainder of parmesan over it and serve

Makes 2 heart attack-inducing main portions or 4 primi pasta.

We made a romaine salad with a sharp dressing to balance out the richness of the pasta. Wine is a must with this dish and we served it all up with a capable cabernet sauvignon.