Cavatelli with white beans, gorgonzola and hazelnuts
One of my favourite things to do is try and recreate a restaurant dish that I’ve loved at home. I love the detective work that goes into it, the research, the planning. But it’s not that often that I feel compelled to recreate a dish when I’ve not tried it myself. My husband recently returned from a trip to London, where he stayed in my hometown of Barnes (SW through and through, baby), less than a year after our last trip to London where we also stayed in Barnes. It’s becoming a bit of a thing. Anyway - I digress. The point being is that when I was last there, while I did notice a new restaurant had taken over a pretty iconic location at the top of the High St where it meets the Terrace, I didn’t manage to pay a visit, what with a then 11 month old with jetlag in tow. But armed with the freedom of travelling without his family this time, my husband did.
When he got back he told me all about this pasta dish he’d ordered and insisted that we recreate it. With my husband’s account and thankfully (!) a post on the restaurant’s Instagram page, I managed to piece together enough information to try and work out what might have gone into the dish. A couple of test runs later and here we are.
Now I know there might be a few of you reading this thinking absolutely hard no to the blue cheese, so I’ll level with you - I am also not a blue cheese gal!! No no no! But given gorgonzola is like the most vanilla form of blue cheese you can get, I do make an odd exception, and you should too. While there is that very particular blue cheese taste present, it’s mild, it’s creamy, the edge is taken away with a touch of acidity from the lemon. The parmigiano offsets it slightly, adding a salty nuttiness that’s further enhanced by the brown butter hazelnut topping. When my husband described the dish to me, I didn’t really think much of it. Blue cheese and hazelnuts are two ingredients that don’t really get me excited. But the finished dish? Truly so, so good.
So thank you to the Waterman’s Arms in Barnes for the inspiration, because the likelihood of me developing a recipe with gorgonzola, beans and hazelnuts would otherwise have been very, very slim.
Cavatelli with white beans, gorgonzola and hazelnuts
Serves 2
Ingredients
For the pasta
200g semolina flour (semolina rimacinata)
98ml warm water
For the brown butter hazelnut topping
60g unsalted butter
50g hazelnuts
For the white bean and gorgonzola sauce
35g unsalted butter
A small bunch of fresh sage - approx 15-20 leaves depending on size
3 cloves of garlic, smashed but left whole
1x 400g can of cannellini beans, roughly drained but some of the can juices are welcome
125ml stock - I used chicken but it works with vegetable stock too
60g cream (double/thickened/cooking)
130g gorgonzola cheese
Lemon - just a squeeze for acidity
50g Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated
Method
For the pasta dough
Place the semolina flour in a mound on your work surface and make a well in the centre. Pour the water into the well.
Using a fork start whisking until you have a thick custard-like consistency, incorporating a little bit of flour at a time as you do.
Switch to a bench scraper and start to flip the flour from the outer edge over and onto the centre, using a cutting motion to then mix it in. Continue to do this around all sides until you have a shaggy dough.
Begin kneading the dough vigorously for a good 10 minutes until the dough is springy and elastic, and not sticking to your hands at all
Cover and rest at room temperature for 30 minutes before shaping.
Shaping the cavatelli
Cut off 1/8 of the rested dough (make sure to keep the rest covered while you work), and roll it into a rope about 1/4” thick
Cut the rope into thumbnail sized pieces around 1-2cm thick, depending on your preference for size
Using a gnocchi board (or a fork if you don’t have one), place one piece at a time at the side closest to you, then using your thumb press into the dough and roll it away from you. Repeat with the rest of the dough following the same process.
Place the cavatelli on a lightly floured board or plate and cover with a clean, dry tea towel until you’re ready to use.
Need a visual? Check out this video.
For brown butter hazelnut topping
Preheat your oven to 200c.
Spread the hazelnuts over a baking sheet and bake for approximately 10 minutes until fragrant and roasted.
Allow to cool, then remove the skins from the hazelnuts by placing on one half of a clean tea towel, covering with the other side and rubbing the nuts together.
Roughly chop the hazelnuts and set aside.
Heat the butter in a pan and once melted, add the hazelnuts.
Cook over a medium heat, swirling almost constantly to prevent burning, until the butter splutters and foams - once the sound of the spluttering stops, keep the pan moving and as soon as the butter has browned (foamy top, brown solids visible), remove from the heat and decant into a bowl - set aside.
For the white bean and gorgonzola sauce
Melt the butter over a medium heat in a sauteuse pan and add the sage and garlic.
Allow them to infuse the butter and become fragrant and sizzle, then tip in the beans.
Cook the beans in the butter for a couple of minutes before adding the stock and seasoning to taste with salt.
Reduce the heat a little, and let the beans bubble away gently while you bring a pot of water to a boil for the pasta.
Back to the beans - once the stock has reduced and the beans are just starting to soften/break down, you’ll notice the liquid in the pan is quite creamy - remove the sage leaves and garlic cloves from the pot.
This is a good time to start cooking the pasta if you’ve made it fresh.
Add the cream, followed by the gorgonzola and stir until the cheese is completely melted.
Add a squeeze of lemon - to taste - but just a little goes a long way IMO.
Scoop out the al dente cavatelli with a spider spoon and throw it directly into the bean sauce - add the grated parmigiano and toss/stir/agitate to marry.
A smattering of black pepper is the final touch before plating.
Spoon over the brown butter and hazelnut topping and serve immediately.
