To The Fourth Cheese

There were several memorable dishes that we ate at Ristorante da Cecio, our favorite dinner spot in Rome, but one that stands out was their Gnocchi ai Quattro Formaggi, or "Gnocchi with Four-Cheese Sauce",* a plate of little snail-shaped potato dumplings in a satiny smooth and unctuously cheesy sauce. The sauce was not a garish — in taste or color — cheese concoction but a sophisticated blend of flavors from the four cheese sources whose gestalt was admirably greater than the sum of the parts.

Naturally, while we tastes and "oohed!" and "aaahed!" over each bite on nearly every occasion we ate there, we deviously pondered how to deconstruct the dish or, if necessary, steal the recipe. I'll work through channels to see whether we can get any guidance from the chef; in the meantime, we're on our own.

One evening while we were sampling the dish in the company of our friend Renzo, we asked for his thoughts on what the four cheeses might be, since he once made us a cheesy dish with some of the best qualities of this one. He thought, and rolled his eyes about a bit as he sampled a couple of morsels.

Definitely gorgonzola and mascarpone, he said; this is a common combination that he's used before. In fact, the two are marketed together as a ready-to-go mixture. Also, something like Parmigiano seemed likely, and he thought it must have some cream in it, too. As to the critical fourth cheese though, we were left without a good clue.

I'm not sure this is the definitive answer, but I've found one recipe for a dish called "Pasta Ai Quattro Formaggi" on the web, that matches Renzo's best analysis, and specifies Fontina as the fourth cheese.# I did come across one dissenter** that called for Ricotta as the fourth cheese, but this seemed less likely to me.

So here is the most likely contender so far, until I get more direct word about the secrets of the dish.

40 grams Unsalted butter
50 grams Fontina cheese; grated
50 grams Parmigiano cheese; grated
80 grams Gorgonzola cheese; chopped
100 grams Marscapone cheese
50 grams Heavy cream

Heat a saute pan until hot then add the butter. Turn off the heat and add all the remaining cheeses and cream and whisk the mixture until it is thick and smooth; the heat of the pan will provide enough warmth to heat and melt the cheeses. If the mixture is not melting evenly, return the pan to the heat for a moment or two. Add the cooked pasta to the smooth, rich sauce and toss well.

I haven't tried this yet, but if I get around to it I'll report on the taste.
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*In an earlier version of the english translation of the menu, the dish was styled as "Gnocchi to the Fourth Cheese", which is our preferred name for it. I'm sure you weren't surprised.

# If you search for the dish on the web, you'll see a dozen recipes that have these cheeses as the ingredients, but don't take that as a majority vote: all but one that I've looked at so far quote the same recipe verbatim. This leaves me in a quandary about which to quote as an "original source" for the recipe above, so I'll just arbitrarily choose this one.

** Four Cheese Pasta

Posted on May 17, 2007 at 21.27 by jns · Permalink
In: All, Food Stuff

2 Responses

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  1. Written by Bill Morrison
    on Friday, 18 May 2007 at 19.31
    Permalink

    Last night I went to my local Italian restaurant, an "upscale" place called Zambri's. I had prosciutto with shaved parmiggiano and caramelized pear for antipasto, and then mezze penne carbonara. The cook at Ristorante da Cecio has nothing to fear from the chef at Zambri's. The carbonara was ok, but a little bland; nothing like the complex flavours and tang of the da Cecio sauce.

    But more was lacking at Zambri's. What was missing was the high-energy life of da Cecio. The atmosphere at Zambri's was almost reverential; hushed conversations at well-spaced tables, an efficient wait staff and kitchen crew who were equally reserved. No loud conversations at close-crowded tables, no raucous laughter, no spirited exchanges with the waiters. A pity.

    But what I'm writing about here isn't really Zambri's. Tonight I decided I would have gnocchi "to the 4th cheese" for dinner, and bought the ingredients for same at my local market. The gnocchi is Italian, imported by Italissimo Foods in Vancouver. The sauce is made by a Canadian food company called Olivieri. I've had both before, and both are excellent. Today, given our recent conversations, I looked at the ingredients on the sauce container. Its four cheeses are: emmanthal, asiago, fontina, and gorgonzolo. The emmanthal is a bit of a surprise; but then I think it's really a close sister to parmiggiano. The well-aged, dry crumbly types are quite similar to each other. I think one could eat ones way from northern Italy into Switzerland, tasting cheeses along the way, and the parmiggiano would just gradually become emmanthal, with there being no point where you could say the one had stopped and the other had begun.

    I don't know if Olivieri products (packaged "fresh" pasta and sauces) are available in the US. But if they are, I highly recommend them.

    [I tried to post this using Internet Explorer, and again it wouldn't let me. So I have downloaded Mozilla Firefox, and I'm trying it this time. Needed it anyway for Google maps, which basically no longer work on Exploder.]

  2. Written by S.W. Anderson
    on Monday, 21 May 2007 at 23.51
    Permalink

    You're all way ahead of me in cheese savvy. Mrs. A. is more the cheese devotee in our family, although over the years I've come to try and enjoy more kinds more ways.

    OTOH, really good, rich marinara sauce, preferably reheated for the third or fourth time, not only delights my tastebuds, it can actually trigger an emotional response.

    Nonetheless, I might give the four-cheese concoction a try, even though I'm supposed to behave myself where cholesterol is concerned. Ahem.

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