This Blue Cheese Pasta with Walnuts is one of the most comforting yet easy pasta dinners. The creamy blue cheese sauce is simple to make while the pasta cooks and the toasted walnuts add a wonderful crunch to this delicious vegetarian pasta dinner. Serve it midweek for an easy meal or over the weekend with guests. Eat it as a main meal, add a seared steak or fillet of fish, and use it as a deliciously creamy, cheesy side.
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Ingredients
¼cupwalnutssee post for alternatives
10ozpasta
salt
1¼cupsheavy cream
1teaspoonchopped fresh rosemarysee note 2
½cupblue cheeseroom temperature (see note 1)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425°F/220ºC.
Place a large pan of water onto boil.
Place the walnuts on a lined baking tray and bake then for 5 minutes until golden. Set a timer.¼ cup walnuts
Once the pasta water is boiling, salt it generously and cook it for a minute less than the packet suggests.10 oz pasta salt
Before draining the pasta, reserve 1 cup of the cooking water.
While the pasta is cooking, pour the cream and rosemary into a small heavy-based pan and heat over medium heat until it is almost simmering. (See note 3)1¼ cups heavy cream1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
Add the crumbled blue cheese to the cream and stir gently until it has melted.½ cup blue cheese
Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and ¼ cup of reserved water.
Toss the pasta gently in the sauce until everything is coated and the pasta is cooked to your liking. Add more pasta cooking water as required.
Serve sprinkled with the toasted walnuts.
Notes
You can use any blue cheese that you love. Either crumbled from a block or bought as crumbles. If using a block, crumble it while it is cold, as it is more manageable.
If you can't get fresh rosemary, then leave it out.
Don't allow the cream to boil, which can make the sauce thick and claggy. If it does, remove it from the heat immediately and add a teaspoon or two of cold water to cool and thin it.