Pear and Gorgonzola Cream Sauce on Pasta
Cascading Kitchen Notes
Pears and blue cheese in a hot creamy sauce over pasta, a glass of good wine and a fresh, light salad with a tear of crunchy, chewy, hot bread...you don't even need to say Happy Birthday!

Pear and Creamy Blue Cheese Sauce with Pasta
The key is using a very creamy blue cheese or a gorgonzola that has been aged into creaminess.
In a large skillet melt:
- ¼ cup butter
Add
- 4 pears (firm is better) cut into strips about 1/3 inch thick (core of course)
Cook pears until they are tender, then gently remove them from the skillet into a bowl.
In the same skillet with the butter add
- 1 Tb fresh chopped rosemary or 1 tsp. dried chopped rosemary
Cook until it’s fragrant.
Add
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 4 oz. creamy gorgonzola or other CREAMY blue cheese
- ¾ cup good parmesan, freshly grated
- ½ cup mascarpone
Cook for 5 minutes and set aside.
If you don’t have mascarpone, make a roux in a separate skillet with:
- ¼ cup butter
- 3 Tb flour
Cook for at least 5 minutes over med-low heat then add
- 1 to 1-1/2 cups of ½ & ½
Cook for an additional 5 minutes to create a thickened white sauce.
Add this white sauce back into the Cheese and chicken stock mixture and cook for the noted 5 minutes.
Prepare the Pasta
Cook 1 lb. of thin pasta (e.g. fettuccine, spaghetti), al dente, and drain. Don’t put oil on the pasta or the sauce won’t stick!
Using a very large sauté pan (enough to hold 1 lb. of cooked pasta and the sauce) toss the cheese mixture and the pasta together over heat.
I hold back some of the pasta when I first toss it together. I don’t want it to be light on the sauce. The pasta will absorb some of the sauce as it heats in the frying pan. Add the rest of the pasta as the sauce allows.
Add the cooked pears at the last minute to warm them through.
Plate the pasta and top with toasted walnuts and plenty of fresh black pepper.
