All I want is pasta. I follow a bunch of cooks, food bloggers and recipe developers on Instagram and save the pictures that look especially delectable. Over the past four weeks, all I’ve been saving is cheesy pasta bakes, spicy noodles with chili oil, bolognese and carbonara and pesto and ramen. What I want to want right now is friggin lettuce. It’s January! We’re supposed to feel “full from the holidays” and be excited to eat like clear broth and sprouts with a bracing glass of cayenne water or something horrible like that. But the heart has desires and who am I to tell my heart no. Except for reasons of health, which pssshhh, let’s leave that for the latter half of 2021. 

The quickest way to satisfy this carb craving is the beautiful combination of cheese and pasta. (We do have some awesome jarred sauces, but I’m feeling the simple and cheesy today.) Now, down to the business of picking the cheeses. Out of the 100 or so that we have at the shop right now, I’m gonna go out on a very sturdy limb and say seventy-five of them would be very excellent on pasta, but since you don’t have all day to read this newsletter, I’m going to trim that list for you. My job, it’s so hard, ya know?

I must start with the cheese that comes with its own sauce – Aussie Magic. Aussie Magic is a fresh sheep and goat’s milk cheese that comes in oil with sprigs of thyme and a scattering of peppercorns. Take the cheese and mix it vigorously with the oil to create a slurry, then pour pour pour over hot pasta. Mix with verve and maybe sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley if you have it, but maybe not. See what I mean? Hits that craving fast and deliciously.

If you love gouda, a good shower of gouda over some penne is a strong flavor punch for very little work. I like to grate a little of the caramelly cow’s milk L’Amuse Signature Gouda along with a healthy flurry of Rispens. Rispens is a sheep’s milk gouda that’s heavy on the brown butter and warm spice flavors, which complement the sweeter flavors of the L’Amuse. A crack of black pepper and a little butter melted over the pasta before its bath in grated gouda is probably a good idea.

When I want a really bangin’ cheesy pasta that’s like WAHBAM FLAVOR, I go with the creamy blue, Cambozola Black Label or Mycella Blue. Both are milder blues that melt very well into hot spaghetti. On those days when blue alone is just too much, I like to cut it with cheddar, like Flory’s Truckle, or something nice and mild like Raschera. Then maybe add some crisped crumbles of spicy salami. Cheese on cheese on salami and pasta!

I think that will be the name of my memoir. If you read it, will you promise to have a steaming bowl of pasta with waaaay too much cheese in front of you? In fact, I hope you have a steaming bowl of pasta with waaaay too much cheese in front of you whenever the craving strikes. I better go get some bucatini and cheese right this instant!

For the love of cheese and carb loading,

Kiri

Shop Cheese for Your Pasta

P.S. I just signed up for a class with League of Kitchens, a group of women from around the world who all live in NYC and teach cooking. Students used to visit the teachers in their homes, but now are doing live online classes, which is good for us non-NYC people. I signed up for Angie’s Mexican cooking class, and there are so many more I want to try, especially Yamini’s because she is making paratha, another carby item I love. If you’re looking for a food-based activity (and aren’t we all) check them out!