If you hadn’t noticed, it’s summer. Out here on the East End, It’s crunch time. Everyone in my household is out there hustling. My wife, my son, my daughter (the chef) are all out there hustling to make a buck before it all dries up on Labor Day. It’ll be a relief for them to finally be able to relax and kick back a bit. Me, I’m retired. I gave up that lifestyle after a long hard career. So now I have time to fill in for Chef Kayleigh, and tell some stories that my kids are tired of hearing. Again and again. Of 
course, now I’m a grandpa too, with a new audience for my stories, but I’ll start with you, our faithful readers.
My mother loved blue cheese. She would always have a bottle of Seven Seas blue cheese dressing in the fridge, and that stuff would be used on all our salads. Eat healthy, she would say, as she poured this lumpy thick liquid onto her salad. Well, of course whenever we had a salad, that would be our go-to dressing, not realizing that there were other options. And there are plenty.
But it didn’t stop there. Later in life, I discovered the world of cheese during my overseas trips. Turns out blue cheese is a real thing, a cheese one could be proud of, and made in many different countries in many styles — one is Gorgonzola. Gorgonzola is a blue-veined cheese made in the northern provinces of Italy. Its distinctive veins are caused by spores of the mold Penicillium glaucum, which are allowed to grow into hyphae by quickly inserting and removing metal rods during the aging process. Penicillium roquerforti is sometimes used, but then we get Roquefort cheese, Italian style! Real Gorgonzola enjoys “protected geographical status” and can only be produced in about 14 specific areas in Northern Italy.
There are two basic types of Gorgonzola, dolce and piccante. Dolce is a little less aged, and has a milder flavor, while the piccante varieties can be aged much longer to develop a much sharper flavor, prized by blue mold lovers around the world. The dolce (Italian for sweet) is used in many pasta dishes, an example of which follows. This is a basic recipe, and one can feel free to play with the ingredients, adding all types of vegetables to share in the flavor. Just don’t mess with that basic balance of cheese and cream — trust me!
This recipe is adapted from one by Aliza Green in Fine Cooking Magazine, “Quick Gorgonzola Pasta Sauce.”
Yield: Approximately 1 ¼ cups, enough for one pound of gnocchi, fettuccine, or any hearty pasta.
Ingredients:
2 tbs. unsalted butter
2 tbs. finely chopped shallots
1 tsp. ground coriander
½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
½ cup heavy cream
½ lb. dolce Gorgonzola, trimmed of rind and cut into small chunks
Method:
Bring enough water to a boil in order to cook 1lb of pasta, add the pasta and cook according to the directions of the pasta you are using..fresh pasta will cook in a much shorter time than dried, Gnocchi have their own cooking time!
In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat, and add the shallots, coriander, and pepper. Cook until the shallots are transparent, but not brown, 2 to 3 minutes.
Add the cream and bring to a boil. Simmer gently until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in the Gorgonzola. Set back on the heat only long enough to melt the cheese.
In a large pasta bowl, toss the drained pasta with the sauce and serve…always with a fresh loaf of ciabatta or baguette!
