Pasta ai Quattro Formaggi is an Italian dish, luxuriously creamy yet deceptively simple to make. It simply requires boiling pasta, melting four different cheeses into some milk, then tossing the pasta in the cheesy sauce. Voila. Pasta ai Quattro Formaggi.

Italian version coming soon.

This is essentially the same dish, but Americanized. Instead of simply melting cheese into milk, this version takes the roux route. A few more ingredients, a touch more time, but more foolproof and able to be more inexpensive. Allow me to elaborate.

More flexibility on the cheeses

Because the Italian version melts cheese straight into milk, you have to be more mindful of which cheeses you’re using lest you end up with gummy chunks of cheese in the sauce. The cheeses used are often taleggio, Parmigiano reggiano, gorgonzola, and gruyère. Other alternatives include brie, pecorino, grana padano, fontina, emmental, Edam, stracchino or robiola.

Do you know what all of those cheeses have in common? They are all specialty cheeses, highly unlikely to be found in the cheese aisle at any grocery store. If you’re lucky, your grocery store might have a specialty cheese section where you can find all or some of these. Otherwise you’ll have to go to a specialty cheese place to find them. This makes this dish both expensive and elusive to make.

Enter, the Americanized version. When you make a cheese sauce with a roux, it’s more forgiving of which cheeses you add. Now, I still wouldn’t be reaching for fresh mozzarella, but it frees you up to use a combination of four different cheeses that might not normally work in the Italian version.

That said, two cheeses that seem to be classic in quattro formaggi, whether it’s the pasta or the pizza: Gorgonzola and Parmigiano. Sure, use the American made parmesan (just not the plastic-y pre shredded or grated kind though, ok?) rather than exclusively Parmigiano, but still use some kind of real parmesan. The other two cheeses you can be more flexible with. Sometimes I’ll use Asiago or mozzarella (low moisture, not fresh), Monterey, cream cheese, or other inexpensive yet decent melting cheeses.

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Pasta ai Quattro Formaggi all’Americana

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 1 lb / 500g short pasta of choice

• 2 Tbsp / 28g butter

• 2 Tbsp / 15g all-purpose flour

• 2 cups / 474g milk

• 2 oz / 57g low-moisture mozzarella, shredded

• 2 oz / 57g parmesan, shredded

• 2 oz / 57g Gorgonzola crumbles

• 2 oz / 57g cream cheese

• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, generously salt; cook pasta according to package directions, just 1-2 minutes less than stated cooking time.

2. In a medium-large pot over medium heat, melt better. Add flour, stirring for 1-2 minutes until flour is absorbed and lightly toasted. Add about 1/4 cup of milk, whisking briskly. When milk is mixed in and mixture has thickened, add in another 1/4 cup milk, whisking constantly. Continue adding in milk slowly, whisking all the while. Bring to a simmer.

3. Add in cheeses and stir until melted and smooth. Salt and pepper to taste.

4. Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup water. Add pasta to cheese sauce and mix to evenly coat pasta. Add some reserved pasta water as desired, to thin out and create an even creamier sauce, mixing for a couple more minutes until sauce coats and clings to pasta.

Jenny’s Notes:

• The four cheeses can be swapped out, however to stay tastefully close to the Italian version, keep the Parmesan and Gorgonzola.