The other main ingredients for this dish are the superbly fragrant and nutty roasted hazelnuts. They add a crunchy texture to the velvety cheesy sauce. Hazelnuts are quick to roast, they only take about 12-13 minutes at 180°C/350°F. If you are roasting them yourself, always keep an eye whilst roasting as nuts can burn quickly due to their high oleic content. So give this a go and am quite sure you will love it and list it on your favourite pasta sauces!! For 2-3 hungry people you will need...
- 200g Spaghetti
For the sauce
- 100g (1 cup) Saint Agur blue cheese, crumbled
- 50g (1/3 cup) Roasted Hazelnuts, chopped/crushed
- 15g (1 tablespoon) Butter
- 15g (1 tablespoon) Plain flour
- 230ml (1 cup) Whole milk
- 1 teaspoon honey
- Pinch grated nutmeg
- Pinch sea salt
- Pinch ground white pepper
To Garnish
- Whole hazelnuts
- Chopped parsley
How to...
- In a small heavy based pan, make the roux (flour/butter mixture) by melting the butter then add the flour and with a balloon whisk stir until the roux turns golden. Add the milk, salt, white pepper and nutmeg and keeping stirring frequently until you get a thick bechamel like sauce. This takes about 10-15 minutes.
- Now lower the heat, stir in the honey and crumbled cheese and keep stirring until all the cheese has melted. In the meantime, cook the spaghetti al dente in plenty of salted boiling water.
- Drain the spaghetti, add the sauce to the hot pasta and mix well until all the pasta is coated with the gorgeous creamy sauce.
- Plate up and garnish with whole roasted hazelnuts and chopped parsley.
- Serve hot.
Enjoy!!
R&A
